


Dame Love Life- Oneshot Edition

by JoshuaTallTales



Series: Dame Love Life [2]
Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cliche, Drabble Collection, Drama & Romance, Every Romance Trope, F/M, Rare Pairings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-12
Updated: 2019-01-19
Packaged: 2019-10-08 23:35:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 24,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17395850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoshuaTallTales/pseuds/JoshuaTallTales
Summary: OneShots BitterSweet love stories Tsuna/FemKhr characters No Yaoi.Excerpt:When they are together its sad to say but its because it's expected. "Because at the end of the day, despite how great Tsuna was, and despite the happiness he could offer her…Kyoko Sasagawa did not love Tsunayoshi Sawada and she didn't know what to do about it."





	1. 1. Sad but Expected (Kyoko)

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING: THE FOLLOWING FICS MAY CONTAINED HIGH LEVELS OF CHEESE MIXED WITH THE OCCASIONAL B.S.  
> VIEWER DESCRETION IS ADVISED.

 

**When they are together, it's sad to say but it's because it is expected.**

 

"What about this one?", she hears Haru squeal, upon turning around to see the dress in one of her best friend's hand, an audible gasp escapes her.

"Right, it's so elegant!", the brunette continues on, hugging the dress to her chest and giving a little spin with her eyes closed, obviously pretending to be dancing in it.

For a moment she doesn't respond, elegant though accurate, is not the descriptor she would have used. The dress is a deep maroon color - _she wanted yellow, the color of her brother's flames-_  there are tiny jewels in the dress, she doesn't have to ask if they're real.  _Only the best for a Donna_.

As Haru continues to twirl she has to fight down the instinctive urge to scream for her to put it down, to be careful she doesn't break this simple cloth that's probably worth more than everything she owns combined.

 

"Calm down before you tear the national treasure Miura."

Thankfully Hana has no reservations when it comes to speaking her mind, and utterly ignores some of the skeptical looks being shot at her from some of the other customers in this ridiculously upscale bridal gown shop.

"Muu, how any years have we known each other, you can just call Haru Haru now Hana-chan", Haru responds as if _that_ was the most important part of the statement.

"Continue to act like a child in public and I will continue to say things that make clear the distance between us Miura." Hana replies not even looking at the woman she just insulted, making good on her threat to pretend she didn't know the other woman.

Haru pouts, and Kyoko can't help but let out a giggle. This is why she loved having Hana here, she hadn't seen her best friend in little over a year despite the romantic relationship she had with her brother. You could call Hana many harsh names, all to a degree would be true, but you couldn't call her unassertive.

Unlike the others in her - _Tsuna's-_  circle of friends, she possessed a refreshing amount of common sense that kept her from getting swept up in all the hyperactive nonsense, it was nice to have someone else who could bring order.

 

"It's a very nice dress Haru, what do the rest of you think?" She asked turning to the rest of her bridesmaids.

"Needs more diamonds" was M.M's answer

"OF COURSE NOT!" Bianchi shouted outraged, "This is _Kyoko's_ special day, nothing can be allowed that would take attention off of her as she and Tsuna make vows of passionate love!"

"So what, are you saying I should make myself look ugly just so Ms. White Bread can seem more appealing." M.M returned snottily.

Bianchi narrowed her eyes dangerously, and it quickly became apparent that the love obsessed poison user had had enough of the once gold digger. Trying to stave off another fight, Kyoko quickly turned to the other occupants of the room.

 

"Chrome! What do you think of the dress!?" She called almost desperately

"Perhaps a few adjustments" the girl said in a quiet voice, there was a dark bluish mist that surrounded the dress in Haru's hand ,who let out a surprised yelp as the dress was suddenly black with amethyst skull shaped jewels instead.

 

"Hahi!"

"WHAT THE HELL! NO ONE WANTS TO WEAR YOUR FREAKY DEATH CLOTHES, THIS AIN'T A FUCKIN' FUNERAL CHROME!"

"Gold digger-chan is right chrome sempai." Little Fran said in her monotone voice, appearing quite literally out of nowhere, "It needs happy things"

Suddenly rainbow colored streamers appeared on the black dress with frog and pineapple stickers.

"Oh. I see."

" 'Oh I see' MY ASS, CHANGE IT BACK!"

 

Briefly panicking on the blatant use of Flames in front of her sole non-mafia inducted friend, Kyoko turned to see Hana's reaction, only to find the girl on the other side of the store not even pretending to pay attention. Giving up on the hopeless situation in front of her, she went to see how her only normal friend was doing.

"Hana?" she asked somewhat tentatively

"What?" came the dull reply

"I didn't get your opinion on the dress."

"Does it matter?" Kyoko frowned, worried her friend was feeling left out by the others

"You're my **best**  friend, of course it matters."

"It's your wedding, shouldn't the choice be up to you." She replied in a dull tone, and Kyoko smiled at her friend's reluctance,

"I'm not the one who has to wear the dress, I figured I'd let you guys have the choice."  _'_

 

_Someone one should have one'_

 

"You mean like how you don't" Hana shot back, unwittingly voicing Kyoko's passing thought, her eyes narrowed on Kyoko's face to catch a reaction. She got one. Kyoko's eyes widened like dinner plates as she took a step back and even raised her hand in an almost defensive gesture. Hana's eyes narrowed further and Kyoko immediately composed herself. That was a dangerous slip.

"Hana, I'm not sure what all you're implying but I don't like what it is that I can interpret."

"Oh cut the bull Kyoko."

"Hana, I don't"

"Your barely twenty years old Kyoko, TWENTY" the brunette flung he hands up in a rare moment of dramatics, "Your marrying the first and only guy you've ever dated, while his mysteriously rich yet never before mentioned extended family pays for everything in a foreign country-"

"I don't care about money Hana" Kyoko cut in 

"Are you sure, because _someone_ obviously does. This place, these dresses, even what you're wearing right now" she said pointing down to Kyoko's ,admittedly, rather expensive clothing, " Either something happened to the Kyoko I knew or  _someone_  is trying to make you into some doll, cause the Kyoko I knew wouldn't care about any of this crap."

She continued waving her hand around the obvious opulence of the store they were in.

"The Kyoko I knew would have wanted a nice simple wedding back in her homeland, when she was older, had a career beyond living in her boyfriend's villa, and most of all, one that her 'parents could actually attend." She finished with a hiss. "Either  _someone_  changed you into this kind of person in less than a year or you're the same and  _someone_  is making all these decisions for you."

 

It was the last accusation that made Kyoko flinch; she'd wanted her parents to come, she really did, but it was simply too dangerous to have them there with the rather dangerous guest list. Not even Tsuna's mother would be coming, let alone aware her son was getting married.

 

_Just one more sacrifice for the Vongola._

 

"You keep saying someone, but I can't help but feel you mean Tsuna, is that right?" She replied instead, her voice low.

Hana's silence was all the answer she needed,

"You don't think I know this, you don't think I know how weird this is, how shallow I seem. Tsuna suddenly inheriting is grandfather's company was a surprise to _him_ more than anyone!" Kyoko exclaimed passionately, Tsuna had fought against this for years longer than she had, "Yeah, it may seem that I'm giving up a lot, but Tsuna himself has never asked me to make those sacrifices. I do them of my own free will."

 

As she spoke her eyes started to blur with unshed tears, and Hana frowned.

 

"Kyoko…"

"I won't let anybody accuse Tsuna of being less than he is, not when is giving up so much and has to deal with jealous relatives and people talking bad about him behind his back. Not even if it's you Hana, Tsuna is…Tsuna is"

"Okay okay I'm sorry, that wasn't fair to Sawada, stop your crying please, your making feel like a bitch on your not wedding day" she relents with a sigh and Kyoko blinked back frustrated tears

"I guess" she continued slowly when it seemed Kyoko had gotten control of herself, "I just never saw you two together, I always sort of counted it as a stupid teenage relationship thing that everybody goes through once and somewhere in the back of my mind expected you to break it off at some point. Course that makes me a hypocrite considering me and Ryohei have been together since middle school but…"

Kyoko remained silent and Hana let out another sigh, "I didn't mean to make you so upset, I'll try to be better", she said giving a rare Hana smile to show her genuity, which Kyoko returned weakly.

 

' _I wasn't upset because I was offended'_  she thought as Hana turned back to the truly gorgeous bridesmaid dresses that Kyoko herself would never have picked in a million years, and making pitiful yet endearing tries to participate in Kyoko's pre matrimonial duties.  _'I was scared because you were right.'_

 

Her first and oldest friend had just pointed out every fear and doubt that had plagued Kyoko's mind for the last two years; that wasn't even counting Hana's lack of knowledge of all the dark mafia related secrets that would no doubt plague her for the rest of her life. The revelation has snuck up on her all too quietly, insidiously, the way all the worst revelations seem to do.

For Kyoko Sasagawa, being the kind soul that she was and with her fiancée being the loving man that  _he_ was, the truth was just too cruel a reality to accept.

Tsuna was a wonderful brother, a phenomenal boss, a passionate lover, and a genuine all around _exceptional_ human being; which was why he deserved so much better than what Kyoko could properly give him. Because at the end of the day, despite how great Tsuna was, despite everything he had ever done for her and her family, and despite the happiness he could offer her…

 

_Kyoko Sasagawa did not love Tsunayoshi Sawada and she didn't know what to do about it._

 

* * *

 

" _I-I-I have l-liked you for a long time, please g-go out. With me. P-please go out with me. Romantically."_

_She didn't answer, couldn't answer, as she watched the vaguely familiar scene from her middle school days appear before her once again, if even this time he wasn't shouting (thankfully) and was fully clothed (…thankfully)._

 

_Tsunayoshi Sawada had just confessed to her, Kyoko Sasagawa, and she honestly didn't know what to feel about that._

_For one she could hardly even process what he said since Tsuna had yet to stop babbling_

_After her initial 2 seconds of silence the 17 year old had all but worked himself into frenzy, bumbling and tripping over his words. She decided she would put him out of his misery if only to allow her the time to think of an appropriate reply. No matter how adorable his floundering face looked._

 

" _To say" Tsuna babbled more and more frantically, seeming unable to stop himself "when two people make a mutual if not always verbal agreement to spend time with each oth-"_

" _Tsu-kun" she patiently interrupted_

" _Y-yeah"_

" _I understood you the first time; you haven't let me answer yet"_

" _O-oh" the boy, if possible, seemed to go even redder in mortification of what may have been the un-coolest confession ever heard._

_Kyoko giggled at his expression, which did not seem to help his dwindling self-esteem, as she allowed herself to_ really _think about his offer. When she was thirteen, she had not been ready to think about such things, and the suddenness of his out of character actions had honestly frightened her._

 

_Now though, now she knew him better, she had seen his various points good and bad, she'd watched him grow into the amazing person he was today. Still just as kind and caring, but now with the steel will to pronounce it, and the strength to protect those he cared about._

_She'd be lying if she said she hadn't thought about it, that she hadn't gone back to that morning and played out what would have happened in her head had she said yes to his sudden confession. It's not like she had been interested in someone else, and despite her "idol" status, few had had the courage to express romantic interest in her before him._

 

_(Would he have trusted her with his secrets from the beginning, would she have fought alongside him, would they have that unbreakable bond and trust he shared with the others who stood beside him from the beginning and every step of the way down that long journey?)_

 

_She didn't know, Tsuna was an amazing guy and Kyoko didn't have anyone like that in her life right now, she_ did  _want to be closer to him, to erase that invisible wall that had separated them. Her brother would probably be EXTREMELY happy, and she was a teenage girl at the height of her youth after all._

_Well all that, and he was kind of cute, so really, why not?_

 

_She turned a beautiful smile at the now milk white Tsuna, who had patiently waited in silence (mortal terror) for her answer._

" _Yes"_

" _Yes?" Tsuna asked, "Y-yes what?" his frail teenage boy heart unwilling to take it if it were a simple misunderstanding, which was quite the par for his ludicrous and rather chaotic life._

" _Yes, I'll go out with you."_

" _Y-you will!?"_

_Kyoko giggled again before leaning forward and placing a kiss on his cheek, "Mhmm", then laughed out loud at how quick his face went red again. She could definitely learn to love Tsunayoshi Sawada._

 

* * *

 

Kyoko arrived at her temporary home for the next few weeks, a lavish Vongola owned villa with an amazing view of night time Milan _._

_Kyoko's parents couldn't afford a view like this if they worked the entirety of their lives._  

And immediately sets about getting ready for the nights events.

 

"Patricia" she called out to the empty room, voice assured and commanding in a way it hadn't been while speaking to Hana

"Yes Nobildonna", the very stern looking woman in an actual full on maid uniform greets, appearing from nonexistent shadows. 

_Only the best for a Vongola, little Madonna, in all aspects._

"Has Tsuna arrived yet, I want to show him the dresses we finally decided on for the wedding." she asked unconcerned by the sudden appearance

Despite his busy schedule and utter hopelessness in such subjects, Tsuna still requested to be made aware of the various aspects of the wedding, if only to save them from the Vongola Style 'enhancements'.

 

The maid, Patricia gave a curt bow, "There was an incident that required Sir Decimo and his guardian's immediate attention; he will meet you at the rendezvous Nobildonna."

"Oh" Kyoko breathes out, caught between an odd mixture of relief and disappointment.

She is not in the mood to have to force out any more excitement as she has had to do for most of the day

( _Tsuna is scarily perceptive and nothing but her best performance would be able scrape past his intuition_ ).

On the other hand planning a wedding, ( _regardless of how restricted her decisions are_ ) has been a fun and interesting experience and Tsuna is her closest confidant; she has shared home, bed, and dreams with him for the past two years now and will continue to do so for the rest of their foreseeable lives.

 

Patricia makes no comment on the far too obvious release of tension at the mention that her intended is not on the premises; Kyoko scolds herself on the lack of control in front of someone she doesn't implicitly trust anyway. 

 

_The world is a stage little Donna, and you must always give the perfect performance._

 

"If you will Nobildonna, a bath has been prepared for you, your clothes and accessories for tonight's banquet have been set out, and your stylist can have you ready to go in less than an hour, Nobildonna"

"Thank you that is much appreciated", she smiled even as a distant part of her mind laminated on that fact that she couldn't even pick which clothes she would wear before she harshly shushed it.  _'_

_You've lived like this almost two years now, stop acting like a flighty teenage girl now that your about to cross the finish line'_

 

Except it's not a finish line, but the start, she has less than two months until the start of the rest of her life.

It is a daunting thought, but a no less constant one these days that she has learned to ignore and not one she allows to deter her now as she turns and heads to her room. She doesn't make it ten steps before her stylist, Portia she's called if one could believe it, intercepts her and immediately starts jabbering on a mile a minute about tonight's banquet.

"Nobildonna, Kyoko!" exclaims the young multicolored haired woman practically rushed her, "Your finally here! We only got two hours to get you fabulous, you're going to look so great in your dress. This banquet is going to be jabber jabber jabber jabber noise noise noise noise" goes the excitable slightly older woman.

 

Portia will be allowed to attend as a member of the Vongola entourage on Kyoko's request and is clearly exited.

This is a calculated move on Kyoko's part; despite her relatively unimportant position in the grand scheme of things, Portia has worked with and underneath some of the best stylists in there society, and as such, has access to the grand circle of gossip among female Mafiosi that Kyoko has previously not been a part of.

 

Kyoko cannot bring herself to feel guilty about this, not when Portia herself knows why she is kept so close to the soon to be wife of Vongola's heir apparent-it is the reason she is jabbering on so incessantly in the first place- and Kyoko cannot afford to make a poor showing in these new social circles.

A male dominated society it may be, but any fool could tell you that every Famiglia had some old mother or wife or daddy's girl, whispering vital information in the boss's ears. Running a family was a two person job, and she was Tsuna's partner, this banquet  _was_  her job.

 

Real get-togethers happened in privacy with close friends and families, and were never with those from outside Famiglias unless _exceptionally_ close

(Dino, Enma, and Tsuna kind of close). 

 

_The lady of the house is a queen little Donna, her stylist is her informant, her girlfriends are her soldiers, your entourage are there as your loyal subjects for you to use, so_ use  _them._

 

"- cy told me, cause she can't afford her own stylist anymore" Portia jabbered

"Neil's wife?", Kyoko asked, even half paying attention able to pick and choose the relevant information from Portia's spiel. "I wasn't aware the Cardemonde's were experiencing financial trouble. In fact Tsuna told me the farms were doing better than ever this season. I think Bartelomellow's wanted to do business with them."

Portia's eyes gleamed, obviously prepared to drop some kind of information that would earn her a bonus, "Apparently Mrs. Cardemonde wanted some of his _business_  too."

"Ah, I see", and she did, Kyoko wasn't the only one who'd gone into loveless marriages, though unlike many, Kyoko could at least say she had been close friends with her husband-to-be for many years.

It was a simple calculus

Flames were power in the Mafia World; Flames were in the blood, wealth + blood = power. The Cardemonde's, though _very_ wealthy, until recently were not a part of that privileged few that wield the flames of legend, until Nicollete was arranged to marry into the family.

 

"Such a shame, people seem so eager to violate the sanctity of marriage nowadays." Kyoko sighed, rather hypocritically considering her own problems

"Lord Decimo would never do such a thing Nobildonna, it's obvious he worships you like were the sky and sea." Portia assured

"Of course not, I know Tsuna would never." 

_Tsuna_  wouldn't.

' _Stop it'_

 

"Oh Portia, we're spending so much time gossiping you haven't even gotten ready yourself." Kyoko exclaimed as if she was just noticing Portia "undesirable state"

The young stylist looked down at her evening dress, which was actually quite appropriate if not as terribly expensive as Kyoko's own.

"Oh, I was just going to wear this, my lady", Portia answered obviously not sure how to take Kyoko's words as anything but an insult.

"Oh no no that won't do" Kyoko frowned as if utterly oblivious, "I'm sure I have some appropriate gowns your size in my closet that I myself am never going to get around to wearing."

 

_Truth, those gowns were all either gifts from designers or bought by Kyoko herself for this express purpose_

 

"Why don't you look through there and take one or two you can change into for the night." Kyoko instructed sweetly

Portia's eyes lit up excited before trying to school herself and make one or two halfhearted attempts to beg off the generous gifts. Kyoko would have none of it and Portia folded easily enough; information payed for and servant's loyalty assured Kyoko sat back and organized the information she had just received until it was time to go.

 

* * *

 

There's red on Tsuna's collar

There's read on Tsuna's collar, and Kyoko may be the only woman in the world who wishes it was because her fiancée were having an affair.

 

Having finally arrived outside the giant banquet hall for the charity being held by the mayor of Milan, Kyoko was greeted in the courtyard by a kiss from an enthusiastic Tsuna, while Portia behind her tittered.

Portia wasn't the only one, while Tsuna was far from a male supermodel, he's abnormally _cute_ for a grown man.

Kyoko already knows she's going to spend a significant amount of her night fending off vultures in the room, regardless of whether or not they are aware of his true status.

Apparently engaged to some woman was the same as not taken

Even _married_ wasn't taken to those especially used to getting what they wanted. She's almost tempted to let them have him, but she's not that cruel.

 

_She doesn't know if it's crueler to Tsuna or the young girls who don't know what having him really means._

 

Behind him she could see the rest of their family attempting to look like sane productive members of society.

After all tonight Tsuna was not Vongola Neo Primo (Decimo); boogeyman of southern Italy come to reign fire and blood, but Serafino Vongole', young CEO of Seashell Corporation come to donate ridiculous amounts of money to charities he's never heard of while making his company look good for the press.

 

It's as she's pulling back to tell him about her day, and maybe ask what it was that held him up, that her far too experienced eyes pick up on the splash of red, and suddenly her answer is plainly obvious.

She knows

She knows the red is from blood, and she can count on her fingers the number of people that could injure a Tsuna when he's not being careless. Given his utter lack of concern, he hasn't been caught being careless tonight.

She knows, there is only one conclusion- it's not his blood.

 

It's Hayato, of course who notices her gaze and before Tsuna can even blink his suit jacket has been replaced; at Tsuna's questioning look, the bomber simply replies there was a stain on the back. Tsuna doesn't respond more than a raised eyebrow but lets it go.

"Well are you ready to go Principessa" he turns to her with a bright smile so beautiful and genuine that it could only be delivered by the most humble of saints.

Kyoko smiles back, because even in a field of dead bodies, Tsuna would still be the kind and loving Tsuna she knows, implicating collars or not- 

 

_She wishes he wasn't, she wishes that he was changed, that a monster's face would reflect the monstrous (but oh so necessary) actions_

-and takes his outstretched hand.

She tries not to imagine those hands covered in blood.

 

* * *

 

His name is Damien and he will be the planner for their second wedding.

 

After she showed him the bridesmaid dresses, Tsuna had picked up on just how much the lack of control in her own wedding was bothering her. So Tsuna went to the old codgers managing the Vongola and struck up a deal.

He and Kyoko would agree to let go of all creative freedoms and put up with whatever over the top shenanigans that went into a typical Italian Vongola wedding, as long as it wouldn't be an actual wedding and instead an affirming of vows. The real wedding would take place in Japan, with only their closest friends and families, and NO ONE not Kyoko approved would go, not even if it were Nono himself.

Kyoko would have complete control, and the wedding would take place two weeks before the Vongola Vow Affirmers, as it would now be called.

 

Kyoko for her part had hastily assured when she heard of it, that _of course_ the Ninth would be invited, but other than that made no attempts to alter his conditions.

She didn't realize how badly she wanted this until Tsuna pointed it out, and it fills her with joy _(dread)_  that he could notice this so easily. Really Tsuna is the sweetest guy, and never before had Kyoko wished to be in love with Tsuna more than she had at that moment, her traitorous heart refuses to budge.

Even so Tsuna doesn't remark on this when she gives him his, _really both of theirs_ , reward for his surprise thoughtfulness.

 

Damien is passionate about love and life and imagery, when he stares into the distance she knows he's not thinking about lies and death.

Right now he's working for his mother, but his true passion is photography and he has an eye for design. Every night they go to dinner as they discuss wedding plans; at some point they've begun moving away from wedding talks and instead begin talking about their favorite drinks and the places they've been and what they dream of doing in the future.

 

He kisses her on the way home one night, before stuttering and apologizing to her, and it occurs to her at that moment how much he looks like a Western version of Tsuna. Kyoko can't help but wonder if in another life she wouldn't feel so lost if Tsuna was not the heir to the Mafia.

She 'forgives' him easily enough and the two resolve not to talk about it, but the next week is full of little looks and hidden touches, and Kyoko wonders when she lost her mind.

 

Apparently so does Reborn, becomes a week after the kiss, Damien is switched to another wedding, and Reborn becomes her wedding planner. He never says anything but he doesn't need to, she's heard her tutor's voice in her head for the last two years.

 

_A Donna is a queen, a Famiglia is a nation, and bastards are a threat to that dynasty_

 

Kyoko can't even bring herself to feel insulted.

 

That night she tries to cleanse herself of her 'slip' by having sex with Tsuna. Tsuna has always been an amazing lover, and she has never had to fake this part of this relationship. Or so she thought because instead of collapsing after a night of passionate 'lovemaking', Tsuna merely rolled over and looked at her with blazing orange eyes and spoke in that cool monotone of Hyper Dying Will.

"You don't love me."

 

Not a question, not a plea of denial, but a simple blank statement. The sky is blue, grass is green, and you don't love me.

Kyoko for her part kept her face completely smooth even as her heart rate skyrocketed.

 

A far too long moment passed as Kyoko simply didn't know how to answer, never had she wanted Tsuna to know this, hadn't she been loving in their interactions, did this have to do with Damian, she didn't love him either, it was just a momentary panic made decision. Did she not have more time?

"I…"

"I know… I've... known for a while." He gave her a bitter smile, "Do you remember the first time we were together?"

She did, if she remembered correctly, " You were so nervous you kept going into regular dying will mode" she answered and watched him flush for a moment, before the sad look took back over his face.

"Yeah… I never stopped."

She blinked confused

"I used my intuition to read your body, and respond to what your body most reacted to." he admits sheepishly

"Ahh" well as interesting as that was what…?

"You let your guard down during sex. I can see your pleasure easy enough, I can also see that you don't look me in the eyes, and the emptiness that sometimes comes over you when were done." he explains plainly, kindly, its still a steel knife in her heart

 

"…Oh. I'm sorry" Its the wrong thing to say, but really is there a right thing?

"…Don't be" tired and understanding; always so understanding

"…"

"…"

"What now?" she asks, in a low mumble, eyes down

"…Now we do what we're expected to do" came his morose reply.

"Fall in love?" she asks almost innocently looking up, and Tsuna smiled his melancholy smile, before pulling her to his chest.

 

"Yeah, we can do that to."

For the rest of the night they held each other in silence; when she woke the next morning Tsuna was gone taking care of business, it would be years before they spoke of that night again.

 

* * *

 

It's during the wedding rehearsal that life comes to a screeching halt.

Kyoko is taking a break from learning the traditional dances, and Tsuna is talking to some important someone or other, and this is the first time since this rehearsal from hell that she's been allowed to sit down and be at peace.

Reborn is a taskmaster as usual, and every old person seems to have some suggestion or other about how something should be done, and her chaotic family can barely cooperate during the heat of battle when their lives _literally_ depend on it, let alone at some practice party for an actual party two weeks from now. When all of a sudden theirs a loud pink explosion from the middle of the dance floor and it seems chaos is about to erupt once again for the umpteenth time that night.

 

"Stupid Cow, I thought you had that under control by now!"

"Maa Maa, calm down Hayato, you make it seem like he does it every other week. Actually its been years since he's switched his older self."

"Isn't that because boss took the bazooka away from him all those years ago?"

"I did" Tsuna answers seriously, before walking up and crouching by the dispersing pink smoke. A moment later, Lambo from 10yrs earlier is in the dining hall, with wide eyes and tears streaking down his face.

"Wh-Who are you? The Great Lambo-SAMA will assassinate you" the three year old boy quivers.

"EHHHHH!"

"Stupid Cow, WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO!?"

 

3 year old Lambo tears up, and immediately begins wailing, Tsuna only winces and takes something out of his pocket before forcefully popping it in his mouth, the child immediately stops crying.

"Ah, I had feeling these would come in handy soon" Tsuna comments twirling a grape candy in his hand, "Would you like another one Lambo-sama?"

The child Lambo only nodded, "What is it?", he asked after another candy was deposited into his mouth.

At the question Tsuna blinked looking astonished, before palming his face, "Well looks like we know whose fault it is your obsession for grape candy."

 

"T-tenth, what's going on" asked a somewhat weireded out looking Gokudera, honestly Kyoko is too. She knows Vongola are famous for randomness but suddenly turning into a child is kind of pushing it.

Tsuna merely tilts his head surprised, "Isn't it obvious? Lambo's past self used the bazooka." Tsuna replied without further ado placing the toddler in his lap and petting his not quite Afro hairdo. The 3 year old Lambo looked up at him with awe in his eyes, no doubt cementing the bond that would one day make him the lightening guardian.

"Looks like we can get used to seeing this little guy pop up from time to time…to time…to time…to time" he continued his voice getting wearier as past memories of his whiny little brother began to haunt him, draining his previously jubilant mood.

A moment later the 13 year old Lambo appeared in the lap of Tsuna, and there was many shenanigans held, but one person who did not seem interested was currently staring into space eyes wide.

Kyoko Sasagawa's world had just stopped and in her heart a desperate wish was born.

 

* * *

 

She spent hours working on the wording, it had to be perfect.

She had no idea why it mattered so much to her, nothing would _change_ even if it worked, but it did and it had to be perfect. She had taken to spending time with her little adoptive brother on pretense that she missed the younger version of him and wanted to spend time around him, even suggesting to Shouichi and Tsuna that perhaps a device should be made to let Lambo know when he was going to switch with his past self so he could go somewhere safe.

The little Lambo had already snuck to use the bazooka six times in the last three days alone, and the teenager was a bit at his wits end; the 10 year bazooka was nowhere near as fun from the other side of the time stream apparently.

 

It was during lunch the day before the wedding when Lambo suddenly stood up and made a beeline to his room; Kyoko who'd been with him the last few times didn't even need to make an excuse when she got up to follow him.

Moments later when she opened up the door to his room she was met with the wondering face of three year old Lambo.

"Keeko" the young Italian boy yelled, butchering her oriental name.

"Hello Lambo" she said warmly, "how have you been?"

"Lambo's family sent him to prove himself and kill that meanie face Reborn!" the little boy chirped, and Kyoko winced at the cruelty the Bovino's had inflicted on the little boy who annoyed them so.

 

_He's so young,_  she had forgotten how young he was when all that happened, he was far from the arrogant but indestructible little teenager with powerful lightening flames to protect him. She suddenly had to stifle her rage at the Bovino's and she had a feeling the relationship between the allied Famiglia would be strained for the next year or so till it took little Lambo to meet teenage Tsuna in the past.

 

"I see, that's a very big job Lambo"

The little boy puffed his chest, "Mhmm. Lambo is a big boy."

And Kyoko's heart broke just a little, but she rallied on, "And can you do another big boy job for me Lambo?"

"?"

"I need you to give this letter to Reborn for me can you do that?"

"Lambo's not supposed to take stuff from the fturfur." He said once more butchering the 'big' word.

"Oh would you do it for a grape candy?" she asked coyly

"Yep!" and Kyoko sweat dropped at his utter lack of hesitance.

"Good" she said handing him candy and letter, "I'm trusting you Lambo"

 

A moment later, both were gone and in their place was the spoiled teenager who looked oddly burnt, "Lambo sweetie… what…?"

"Don't ask Kyoko-nee, just don't ask"

"Okay, your lunch is waiting for you honey."

The teenager nodded and waltzed with a slight limp out of the room, the moment he left Kyoko felt the strength in her knees give out. Taking deep shuddering breathes, Kyoko placed her head against her knees and shook with relief and pain.

 

_It's all in your hands now_

 

* * *

 

***10 min before Tsuna/Kyoko Wedding, in the bride's dressing room***

"For God's sakes Miura, STOP CRYING THE WEDDING HASN'T EVEN STARTED YET! YOU'RE NOT EVEN THE ONE GETTING MARRIED!" Hana roared.

"Haru can't help it, weddings always make her cry! Bwaaa"

"There there Kurokawa, there are few greater things that one capable of shedding tears for the romance of another."

"Happiness or not she's ruining her makeup job we all had to spend hours enduring. It'll take another half an hour to fix!"

"Pfft, maybe for some of us."

"Can it Bitch, I don't want to hear another word from you. Why are you even here, you're not Kyoko or Sawada's friend." Hana finally snapped

"I can't help it my beauty was requested to raise the overall standard for the rest of you." M.M replied breezily

"Gold Digger-chan begged to be a part of the ceremony so she could get into the pockets of Boss Sawada's associates." Said a monotone voice

"SHUT UP FRAN!"

"Whore"

"FUCK YOU"

"WAAAAH, IT'S SO SAAAAD, M.M IS DESPERATE FOR LOVE ON KYOKO'S SPECIAL DAY!"

"SHUT UP MIURA!"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING DESPERATE, BITCH!"

 

"ENOUGH!" Bianchi snapped, "It's time to line up, M.M and Hana your first, Fran come with me to the bathroom you can use your 'special trick' to help Haru with her make-up, Chrome please stay here with Kyoko till she's ready."

"Yeah yeah whatever." M.M grumbled and Hana looked mutinous for a second, but in a moment the dressing room was cleared of all but the bride and her designated Maid of Honor.

Hana would normally take this position, but Chrome was a guardian and the old codgers made a fuss about a civilian being in a mafia wedding at all; besides it would be safer for Hana in the long run. Best she goes as the powerful Sun Guardian's current date, than as a vulnerable spot of the future Decimo's wife.

 

In the silence Chrome came over and helped fix the veil over Kyoko's head, who was looking at her reflection in the mirror, erasing all fear and sadness from her expression. The result was somewhat colder than she meant, but it would do behind the veil.

"I didn't know Haru was so emotional during weddings." Kyoko said more to distract herself from the churning in her gut than anything.

"She doesn't, she's mourning" came the illusionist's quiet reply

"Mourning?" Kyoko asked confused

"She was in love with Boss"

 

Kyoko froze, and looked up at Chromes reflection. The girl's face was free of emotion, not that she expected to see any, Chrome had relaxed around them a lot over the years, but she wasn't one to tell jokes.

"Why?" and Kyoko wasn't sure which 'why' she meant. Thankfully Chrome seemed to.

"Boss loves you and you're her friend", the illusionist then turned her sole violet eye to meet Kyoko's, "She's been trying to be as enthusiastic about the wedding as possible to hide it."

"Hayato", Kyoko gasped out, and man she was certainly of a master of vague not questions today wasn't she?

"Is a good man who loves her and could make her happy in time." Chrome replied not breaking eye contact, "Though even still I'd think she'd prefer something else even if she knows it might sound a bit selfish"

 

Damn, it seemed Chrome was a master of vague implicating not answers all this time too. Wasn't Mukuro the one who was supposed to scare you down to your bones with just a few casual words? Kyoko swallowed dryly, but Chrome made no effort to continue that line of conversation, merely finished securing the veil before stepping back.

"Your visitor is here, I'll make sure you're uninterrupted"

Before Kyoko could ask, the door opened and in waltz the white haired devil with an angel face.

Chrome turned to him with an unsurprised face and spoke, "don't ruin her makeup" and was gone in a flash of indigo mist.

 

"Whoo, the lighter half of the mist has a dark streak to her, huh? I got chills ne."

"Byakuran"

"Are you ready for your wedding gift?" the white haired devil asked

"It worked?" she asked, heart beating in her throat.

The devil merely smiled, and the angel winged ring on his hand glowed as he tapped her forehead, and the world disappeared.

 

* * *

 

Kyoko Sasagawa strode down the aisle a beautiful white gown, a veil covering her face and emotions from view. Her brother stood in place of their father holding her arm, before giving her off to the man who would be her husband. At his right side a young man wearing a fedora, a flower with yellow lizard eyes on his coat.

 

 

_13 year old Kyoko Sasagawa tried to find and stop her big brother from beating up the weird fluffy haired boy who'd just confessed to her in his underwear. A baby in a suit with a lizard on his hat jumped out of nowhere surprising her._

" _Ciaossu"_

" _Oh! Your Tsuna's little brother" she exclaimed_

_The baby tilted his head, his hat blocking his eyes,_

" _Messing with the time stream is a very dangerous thing Kyoko Sasagawa." The baby replied in a cold tone. The tone actually made her take a step back, which was ridiculous he was just a baby-_

" _But the information given was good, and may help me of my curse so just this once as a Guardian of the Trissinette, I'll allow it." With that he tossed a white envelope to her and was gone._

_Looking down at the envelope she saw her name 'Kyoko'._

 

 

"Serafino Tsunayoshi Sawada-Vongole', do you take Kyoko to be your wife, in sickness and in health, good times and bad, to love and honor for the rest of your life?" The preacher asked.

Behind her she could just hear Hana quietly asking what the hell, clearly stumped by the long Italian additions to Tsuna's name.

 

 

" _What the hell Kyoko, are you scared of the monkey? I promised to kick his ass if he ever stripped in front of you again, but don't you think this is getting ridiculous? Your brother's been invited to_ _ **Italy**_ _and you can't go for 'reasons', What Reasons!?"_

_15 year Kyoko Sasagawa merely smiled, "That was two years ago Hana, Tsuna doesn't do that anymore, you should move on from that more than me." She replied even as her mind flashed back to the letter she received two years ago, Kyoko would not go anywhere with Tsunayoshi Sawada until he was securely married._

" _Besides, I love it here at home" she said looking at the bright noon sky, "Japan is the most beautiful place in the world to me."_

 

 

"I, Serafino Tsunayoshi Sawada-Vongole' , take you, Kyoko, to be my wife. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life."

 

 

" _EeeeeeeeeH", went the squeal of 20 year old Haru Miura. Her brother and his friends were for once back home in Namimori. The 20 year old culinary student had long since gotten over her "Tsuna Paranoia" as Hana called it, especially since four years ago she finally stopped seeing that twinkle in his (gorgeous) eyes when he looked at her._

_Apparently he found someone else to look at like that, judging by the ridiculously happy look on Miura-san's face and the relieved and happy sick look on Tsu-kun's. When Kyoko returned to her empty apartment after hours of celebrating her acquaintance's happiness she couldn't help but curse her other selves' paranoia._

 

 

"Kyoko Sasagawa, do you take Serafino to be your husband, in sickness and in health, good times and bad, to love and honor for the rest of your life?" The preacher asked her.

 

 

_His name is Damien, he works mainly as a photographer for his mother's wedding planner business. He is charming, funny, driven, and handsome._

_Miura has apparently decided that she wants to hold two weddings since she can't afford to ship all her Japanese friends to Italy. The excuse doesn't hold much water when you take into account how expensive Damien's family's services are, but the girl is a ball of happiness and energy so everyone else can't help but get swept up in the excitement._

_They go on a date during the rehearsal and it's the best date she's ever had, she even kisses him before the night's up_

_When she gets back to the small inn, the Sawada family is paying for in the days leading up to the wedding, she meets Tsunayoshi Sawada out on the terrace. The other man looks so completely at peace that it makes her feel at peace too._

_When she sits next to him, he seems startled but smiles at her all the same, and she can't help but think it's the most beautiful thing she's ever seen. She's proven wrong mere minutes later when Miura comes looking for him, the smile that takes over his face could blot out the sun. He leaves without looking back, and Kyoko's night feels cold and empty._

 

 

"I, Kyoko Sasagawa, take you, Serafino Tsunayoshi, for my lawful husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and health, until death do us part."

 

 

_A white haired man, comes to her minutes before the Sawada/Miura Wedding and asks her if she wants to give a blushing bride a wedding gift. He taps her forehead before she can answer and for a brief moment she feels her life flash before her eyes. With an enigmatic smile the white haired man skips off in search of Marshmallows, leaving a stunned dazed Kyoko staring after him._

 

 

"You may now kiss the bride" the preacher says and Tsuna turns to her, with love and pain in his eyes. Leaning forward, she kisses him and hopes the other Kyoko will appreciate the life she lives.

 

 

_As she sits in a crowd of friends and family and strangers alike and watches Tsunayoshi and Haru Sawada share a passionate kiss, Kyoko Sasagawa can't help but wish that she wasn't in love with Tsunayoshi Sawada._

 

**_Kyoko Path:_ Complete**


	2. Tragic, but Enduring (Bianchi)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone confused in the last chapter, Kyoko sends a letter to her past self through Lambo and Reborn, basically warning her she will have an unhappy life and something 'bad' will happen if she gets close to Tsunayoshi Sawada. 
> 
> The Kyoko of that universe grows up free of Mafia influence, the Byakugans give the original Kyoko memories of the other life to for her 'What if' moments.  
> She doesn't realize that Mafia-free Kyoko has ironically fallen in love with Tsuna.

 

 

 

**When they are together it is tragic to remember, but it is because they are the only ones left**

 

8:43 a.m.

She noted on the tiny clock at the corner of her computer, Hailey automatically smoothed out her skirt and checked her appearance.

"Prepping yourself for your boyfriend Prescott" a voice behind her scares the life out of her.

"Bailey" she hissed because she was startled and not at all because of the older woman's completely off base comment, "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

Thirty two year old Bailey Sprouts looked down at her coworker with an unimpressed look, but her eyes were gleaming with an unholy light.

 

"I didn't 'sneak up on you'" she mimed finger quotes, "I walked up to you calmly and watched you primp for a minute and a half, the question is" here she leaned forward to give her a smug little smirk, that had Hailey automatically leaning back, "what are you thinking about that's got you so jumpy, your jail bait boyfriend?"

Hailey should really ignore her, she really should; unfortunately she made the beginners mistake of trying to defend herself.

"He's not my boyfriend, and I don't like him that way" even as she said the words, Hailey internally cringed at how forced and unbelievable it sounded even to her.

"Well hot damn I'm convinced" Bailey's voice sounding like it had an unfortunate run in with sandpaper it was so damn dry.

"I'm sure you just decided to check your appearance and push up your boobs" Hailey flushed, she'd hoped she hadn't seen that part, "at exact time Mr. ' _To-be-early-is-to-be-on-time'_ , would walk in his usual fifteen minutes early."

"Bailey" she tried again in her 'I'm-being-a-sincere-adult' voice, " I really don't have those feelings for him, it be both inappropriate and unprofessional."

 

"Uh, huh" the older woman said dryly before looking over her shoulder and saying, "Then I guess I'll be free to make a pass at him" and Hailey didn't have to look at the clock to know it was 8:45, as the sound of a closing door and the smell of coffee entered the room.

Hailey swallowed dryly even as she her heartbeat sky rocket, she could feel a thumping in her ears as the blood rushed to her face.

"B-bailey, that's completely inappropriate, your old enough to be-"

"To be what?" she cut her off with a raised eyebrow, "His sexy baby sitter, tutor?"

 

' _Your parents left me in charge, do you want to take a bath- **Stop it** '_

 

"By the way your _'I'm-a-sincere-adult-voice'_ doesn't sound as c-convincing with all that s-stuttering P-porky."

Embarrassed Hailey gritted her teeth, "For the last time I do not have a crush on-STEVEN!"

The last bit came out as a surprised yelp upon seeing her chocolate haired coworker come up from the corner of her eye.

She turned to see burning green eyes widen in surprise at her sudden exclamation, and behind her she could here Bailey snickering.

' _Bitch'_

 

"Hello Ms. Prescott" Steven Swanson greeted, even slightly stunned he gave a greeting not like it was a graceful nod. If there was something that everyone agreed in the office, it was that Steven Swanson had almost overly polite manners.

A distant part of her mind noted with relief and frustration that he didn't even glance down at her more than noticeable assets.

" Ms. Sprouts" he gave another nod bow to Bailey who gave a lazy wave with an amused smile.

"Yo Stevie, got my lightly sweetened chai tea latte for me"

"Right here Ms. Sprouts" handing her a cup with the Starbucks label on it, "And a passion fruit ice tea lemonade for you Ms. Prescott"

 

Hailey's eyes as they always did flickered to his lips at the word 'passion'

 

"Thank you" she said politely in a voice maybe an octave or two higher than normally, but that was because it was morning, and everybody spoke louder in the morning before the day had the chance to beat you down.

"Ahh", she heard Bailey sigh loudly after rudely snatching up the cup from his hands, "I knew there was a reason we kept you around Stevie."

"I thought it was because I was the assistant manager and technically your boss" Steven replied back amused.

 

Six months ago the young twenty two year old had shown up with a couple of other newbies to the call center bearing the gifts of fresh coffee, automatically securing his place as the most well like individual on their floor.

Then proceeded to show up everyone in the office; closing more sells than anyone else, showing up early, taking over for other people's shifts, staying late, and always with little anecdotes.

 

Things like ' _to be Early is to be on time and a boss always shows up on time_ ', _'a boss does not leave his subordinates behind just to cut out early'_ , and  _'a boss is always immaculate in his appearance._ '

 

He was kind of a taskmaster, but people were just naturally drawn to Steven nonetheless, even on the phone. So it was really to no one's surprise when two weeks ago he made assistant manager when Greg retired.

"Hey Stevie, how'd you do on that test of yours, y'know that test you have to take cause you're a youngin still in school that us older individuals gave up on " she could  _hear_  the mischievous smile on Bailey's face.

Hailey kept her face carefully polite even as she stomped down on the impulse to slap the women.

 

"Oh it was kind of difficult, but I think I did well enough; economics was always a subject I struggled in"

"Reeeeally" Bailey stretched out the word, "Y'know Hailey's good at all that math and economics crap, why don't you ask her for some…  _tutoring._ "

Hailey stomped on her foot. Hard.

"Ow, you little-"

"We'll have to see about that some other time" Steven said slowly glancing between the two women, "Ms. Prescott, Ms. Sprouts" his eyes lingered a moment longer on Hailey then they did Bailey and Hailey swallowed.

"Yeah" Bailey once more interrupted after the younger man walked off, "you don't feel anything special for him  _at all_ "

Hailey Prescott thumped her head against the desk

 

* * *

 

Tsuna Sawada arrived home to his small studio apartment late in the afternoon having jogged the half an hour it took him to get home rather than suffering New York traffic .

It was just one more meager way to keep himself in shape; sitting at a desk eight hours a day, five days a week was no way to keep his figure.

 

"I'm home" Tsuna called when he went through the door, he was not surprised to receive no response from the woman not two feet away wrapped up on the lone mattress in the apartment.

Tsuna ignored his lack of greeting, the woman had to be up late working so she needed to get all the extra sleep she could. Instead he loosened his tie and headed over to the small kitchenette where there was a small bubbling pot on the stove.

Carefully removing the top and deliberately leaning his head back to avoid the poisonous gas that was his sister's cooking. Seeing the toxic mess hadn't yet melted, he pulled the pot from the fire and sat it on the cloth topped counter top.

 

There was a time in the beginning where a hot home cooked meal was little more than fantasy of myth; he couldn't cook anything more complicated than cereal and sandwiches, and every food item _she_ touched turned to poison to everyone except for her.

 

It was a rough couple of months.

 

It wasn't till he was watching her one morning attempt ( _once again_ ) to make edible porridge that he focused on the tiniest Flame Energy coming from her hands.

His sister was a storm, which had properties of disintegration, a flame was born from what ones resolve, his sister loved cooking and put all her emotions into it. 2+2=4; Reborn would have criticized him for taking so long to figure out something so basic.

 

Tsuna put his hands on in a boxlike formation over the pot,

"Zero Point Break Through: Revised", he whispered, and with a small pulse of never used internal Sky flames, Tsuna absorbed the negative poisonous storm flames in the admittedly gourmet stew.

A moment later there was an edible gourmet dish for them both, his sister was as good as a chef as she'd led others to believe. His recent promotion has allowed them to afford better ingredients; if they stayed a little longer they might be able to graduate college and get an even better paying job, maybe even have better quality meals than this.

 

He wished Gokudera could have tasted this delicious meal, it might have brought him some peace.

 

Eyes burning Tsuna bowed his head and continues with his meal in the terrible terrible silence.

 

* * *

 

It's Thursday, which means the call center closes early for renovations with the site or something; Hailey doesn't get it truly understand it, but she knows that it allows her and her coworkers to go out to lunch as a group for longer than thirty measly minutes.

Sitting next to her is Bailey, with Kevin, Greg, Paul, Sharon, and finally Steven finishing the circle sitting on her right.

Not that that matters, at all; she's turning thirty in November and having a midlife crises, she's not some teenage girl with a crush, and if Bailey is any  _more_  obvious with her smirks and winks she's going to jail for homicide.

 

"I'm telling you bro, it's just simple science, mankind is headed towards the ability to speak telepathically!" Paul exclaimed

"Ah come on man, are you guys still pushing this" Sharon finally groans out loud what they all were thinking.

Well maybe all except for Steven who looks like he's enjoying seeing the two of them argue so seriously about such a trivial subject.

"And I'm telling you fool" Kevin ignores her, "That evolution doesn't work like that, if it did we'd be able to fly by now, because humanity has always wanted it."

"That's because you're thinking of evolution like something that just happens" Paul argued, "it responds to a need in nature, and technology is a nature-"

"No it's not" Kevin interrupted

"Yes it is, it's a nature of humans- all this interconnected communications are signaling evolution it's time to be closer."

"NO IT'S NOT!"

"YES IT IS!"

 

"How did they even begin arguing about this?" Hailey asked no one in particular, then felt her breath shudder when Steven leaned over and whispered into her ear.

"They were questioning what kind of maintenance we must be having to have to eat outside for lunch , it just sort of escalated from there." Hailey nodded her head even as Sharon lost her patience and told them to shut up.

Paul grumbled while Kevin looked over at them and gave a cheeky smile.

"Sorry about getting so loud on you boss man, I can see you were trying to have a conversation" there was no innuendo in what he said at all, but she didn't miss the look he shared with Bailey.

 

' _Little Adult Brats'_

 

"It's no problem, I grew up around far louder arguments." And Hailey felt her ears involuntarily perk

"Your parents?" Paul asked shamelessly in a gruff tone even as Sharon smacked him across the head, "What!? He put it on the table, I assumed it was okay to ask!"

"No not my parents" Steven snorted interrupting another argument starting up, " I come from a big family, lot of adopted kids"

"Oh yeah?" Sharon asked a touch too interested for Hailey's liking, "Where are you from, Steven, I noticed you have the most intriguing accent when you say certain words"

 

"Oh you noticed" Steven winced, why was he bullied about that?

"Yeah but just a few words" the twenty-nine year old said leaning a little too close, "Like 'grew', and 'length' and 'passion fruit'"

 

' _He's only twenty two you carnivorous bitch'_

 

"Well I was born in Hawaii, but my father was from Europe... most of my family still lives there"

"So your just alone out here for school?" Hailey jumped into the conversation

"No, I have a sister who lives in the city" Steven shrugged, "The older ones are all gone now, it's just my parents and the little ones left at home..."

Hailey noticed the melancholy tone even as the others had already moved on; she put a comforting hand on his knee even if she didn't know what she was comforting him of. Burning green eyes flickered down and she almost removed her hand, but he grabbed it and gave it a squeeze. He held on for the remainder of lunch even as Sharon chatted away about nothing.

 

* * *

 

Tsuna Sawada scarfed down another of his and his sister's delicious combo meals before glaring at the dishes in the sink, this is the third day of the week she didn't do them, and Tsuna's getting annoyed; it seems like every week he ended up having to fill in for her.

"Are you going to do the dishes?" he asked in a carefully controlled tone to a silent room

"..." 

"I know your awake", he continued some bite entering his tone, he could feel the signs of the upcoming confrontation and breathed before speaking in a reasoning tone "you have an off day today, so you can get in here and finish these dishes"

Okay, a bit demanding, but not unreasonably so

 

The lump on the bed didn't even shift

 

Annoyed Tsuna took off his shoe and threw it at the lump, immediately losing the cool he'd been trying to maintain. The lump immediately hissed and a woman with ( _false) hazel_ eyes and ( _too dark_ ) red hair popped up from the sheets.

" _What?"_ she hissed dangerously at him

 

Had he been in the mood, he might have noted the red rimming her eyes, but he was in the mood to fight and it was his turn to lose his temper over something insignificant

 

"Do the damn dishes" he growled lowly

"Screw you, this isn't the 60's get up and do your own damn dishes" she growled back; so it was going to be one of _those_ arguments

Tsuna despite her many claims to the contrary was not a sexist.

Yes, he could be over protective of females in general, its how he was raised, and if anyone needed to be protected it was Nana Sawada.

Yes, he came home and expected a warm meal and a clean kitchen because that was how they'd divvied up the responsibilities, and Tsuna had his own chores that got taken care of and didn't _appreciate_ having to do hers.

 

"No. Those are your chores, so get up off your lazy ass and do it!" Prolonged exposure to the Gokudera siblings had done terrible things to his vocabulary

She laughed, it was a hideous mocking sound that had never seized to piss him off since they were teenagers.

"Oh yes, my chores", she mocked, "And what were your chores again. Take out trash, and go spend money?"

 

Okay so Tsuna's chores were a touch less than hers, but that was because he had a ten hour shift to her six, and attended semi online classes.

"I have-"

"Yes you have to pursue your education that we both know isn't going anywhere?"

 

Tsuna's temper finally reached its max boiling point "AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING! SITTING AROUND AND WALLOWING IN SELF PITY ALL DAY!"

It always occurred to Tsuna during moments like this that he needed some kind of stress relieving hobby, his fourteen year old self would have been horrified at his behavior

Then again his teenage self hadn't had much of a spine, grief had a way of changing someone 

But that wasn't the worst part of these arguments, that part was just around the corner

 

The one thing Tsuna hated about arguments with his passionate sister was that after she escalated an argument to the point where he lost his cool, with that challenging tone of hers, she would inexplicably regain hers in time to say something cuttingly- 

"You know  _exactly_  what I do all day" she said back, voice low and cold, "and why."

Like that

 

_Because no he really **didn't** know what she did all day. Point of fact, he carefully did not ask what she did for money at night, though he was vaguely sure it wasn't legal and nonsexual ( **she was the girl who'd killed her ex-boyfriend at 16 after all)** ; it was her responsibility to keep an ear out in **that** world._

 

_As for why, yeah that he knew, because it was **his** fault they were here, and they both knew it._

 

After a long silence Tsuna broke his gaze first and morosely turned to the kitchen,

"Go to sleep, I'll do the dishes" he muttered tiredly, it wasn't like he wasn't going to be the one to do it anyway, the argument was pointless

 

It wasn't until he'd started and saw the calendar hanging over the sink that he realized what day it was; the anniversary was tomorrow.

...Well, that at least explained the argument, you'd think they'd be able to talk like regular people about their feelings after so long together...

The sound of running water was the only thing that filled the small apartment for a while

 

* * *

 

_He pushed himself, burning sky flames without care, he had to **get there**._

_He didn't know why he bothered, it would be too late, it was always too late_

 

" _ ** ~~Tsunayoshi Sawada, come to die~~ "**_

 

_He didn't respond, he **couldn't** respond; his friends were dead, Kyoya, Mukuro, Dino, Xanxus ripped apart limb from limb._

_Hayato, Ryohei, Takeshi, their burnt bodies piled up to the left, never mind they'd all died miles from this battlefield._

" _Everyone?"  he whispered, his voice felt a million miles away, drowned out by the sound of his heart breaking_

 

_Bermuda in his released curse form, holding a curse released Reborn by the neck_

" _REBORN!" he screamed, not him, Reborn didn't get hurt, he always there, no no no no_

" _You've failed again my Dame-student" Reborn didn't even sound bothered by his situation, just like a man accepting a long expected_ _disappointment_

" _REBORN!!!" he screamed, move, fight back, do something dammit!!_

" _You always fail",_

_Bermuda snapped his neck_

 

" _No…No, No, No, NO, **NO, NO, NOOOOO!!!"** he whispered tears streaming down his face as the Vindice surrounded him, the blank eyes of his dead friends staring up at him in horror, fear, desperation"_

 **"** _**AHHHHHHHHHH!!!"**  he screamed, and screamed, and screamed, and scream-_

 

" _Hush now Tsunayoshi" a feminine voice whispered in his ear, as warm arms wrapped around him._

" _They're gone, they're all gone" he sobbed_

" _I know" the voice whispered_

" _It's my fault" he sobbed_

"… _No, it's really not" the voice whispered_

_Tsuna merely continued to cry, but as felt his vision darken he let out one final desperate whisper_

" _Stay with me"_

_He didn't hear the voice's response_

 

* * *

 

 

It was 9:05 when Steven arrived at work that day, and he'd been out of it the whole time.

Of course he was still performing above and beyond like he'd never heard the world failure before, but there was listlessness to him as he went about his day.

 

"He looks like shit" was Bailey's eloquent statement, which wasn't entirely fair considering at worst his usual immaculate apparel just looked like a normal person's standards, _human_ in comparison.

"You don't think something's wrong with his family?" Hailey muttered aloud

"What, why his family?" Bailey asked, turning to her

"You didn't notice how sad he was talking about them yesterday?"

"No, cause I'm not obsessed with his every tick Prescott" Bailey replied before cringing when Steven clocked out for lunch _on time_ rather than simply working through most of it, "Okay I know I joke about you having the hots for him, but I think the dude could really use some-"

"I'm not going to sleep with him to make him feel better!" she cut off her eccentric friend.

"…I was going to say cheering up" Bailey replied with a raised eyebrow, "but I guess that works too"

 

"What did I just say?" she asked just to be sure she hadn't imagined humiliating herself

"You said you weren't going to ride him till he couldn't think from exhaustion about whatever it is that's bothering him" was Bailey's immediate answer.

"I didn't say that"

"Go to lunch, I'll cover you"

Hailey didn't even protest, though she did feel her eyebrow twitch when she heard the inappropriate woman mutter about going to make her man feel better.

She found him in the courtyard hunched over, uneaten sandwich by his side

 

"Hello Ms. Prescott" he called without turning around, she slowed briefly before continuing.

"How'd you know it was me?" she said sitting next to him, he merely turned a mirthless smile at her.

"Intuition"

"Intuition, huh" she asked brushing a lock of hair back, "What would tell your intuition that I was coming out here."

He turned and looked at her giving her a long considering look, and for a moment she swore green eyes were tearing into her head, before he suddenly grabbed her hand and raised the joined hands up between them

"Because you're the only one that notices" he said squeezing her hand like he did the other day, before bringing it to his lips for a kiss.

Hailey watched entranced,

 

"I know I may be a bit young… and might be totally misreading Ms. Sprout's rather obvious hints,"  _Bailey I'm going to_ _ **kill**_ _you,_ "but would you like to go out to dinner. With me. Tonight."

'… _BAILEY I LOVE YOU'_

"That's…not…" Hailey got out before seeing his slightly crestfallen look, and realizing her automatic response to Bailey's teasing was giving him the wrong idea, "I'D LOVE TOO!"

' _Oh God, did somebody order an awkward teenage girl, I think it arrived a decade or two too late, but more awkwarded with aging.'_

 

"I'd love to" she said with a calmer voice and his smile made her stomach drop and she wasn't ashamed to admit it.

 

* * *

 

Hailey's stomach dropped and she was very much afraid to admit.

After work they had walked down the main street to a small bar, not even bothering to go home and change, because even with the date ahead he still looked a little reluctant about returning home.

Steven ever the consummate individual gave the bar tender his money before the drinking could begin and told him to cut them off at a certain point. Unfortunately Hailey's point was significantly farther back than Steven's point, who had a steadying arm around her waist to make sure she didn't fall.

After the pick me up at the bar they'd walked up and down the street watching various street performers who were probably nowhere near as good as they seemed with her beer goggles on.

She did get to see straight laced Steven loosen his tie and do several incredibly acrobatic flips with the other performers

 

"Years of hellish training, my dear Ms. Prescott" he replied when she asked where he learned to do that

 

They eventually made it to a simple restaurant, where _more_ alcohol was ordered, which was how she got into this situation right here.

She wasn't falling on the floor drunk quite yet, but somewhere in the original fading buzz she'd thought taking off her button up was a great idea and had broken her heal.

Shoes in hand, sinfully skimpy undershirt, and wild drunken hair, she was fairly sure she looked far too trashy to the  _still_  sober and well maintained Steven.

They arrived to her apartment door in one piece though, and Hailey turned to him and acting on liquid courage, skipped various key jangling first kiss protocols and turned and asked him,

"Do you want me to ride you till your so exhausted, you can't think about your family"

 

Steven for his part went very, very still, and Hailey was fairly sure when she was sober it wouldn't be anywhere near as funny as her sudden uncontrollable giggles would suggest. In fact she was sure it would be downright mortifying.

"Well I've certainly never heard…that before" he said stunned, and she giggled again,

"Well you obviously need to get out more", but instead he took a hesitant step back, obviously taking in the whole situation and thinking-

"You won't be taking advantage of me" she said seriously with a more sober tone than she actually felt, "Now I'll ask you one more time before I close the door on this night and sober up alone and needy. Do. You want.m-"

Which was as far as she got before he slammed her against the door with a heated kiss,

"Oh God yes" he said a million moments later when their lips finally broke apart.

She stared into burning _orange_ eyes and smiled she opened the door.

 

* * *

 

Tsunayoshi Sawada arrived home Saturday morning, exhausted and sick to his stomach.

Upon opening the door he wasn't surprised to see a sleeping sister in a circle of empty alcohol bottles apartment; they both had ways of remembering today.

When he went to the kitchen he found a pot of rotted food and Tsuna frowned. The poisonous flames had probably eaten threw and rotted the food before he could neutralize them.

 

A rare Japanese dish had been made by the looks of it, which in itself was... odd 

As a general rule they didn't eat Japanese or Italian, or do anything that would remind anyone of the two cultures. Partly out of heartbreak, but mostly for safety, especially after they'd had to high tail it from a small town in Britain after an incident in a diner with the Russia's Mafiya of all people.

They were safer here in New York blinding in the city of freaks and weirdos, just some contacts and hair dyes and they were more invisible than anywhere els-

 

A jostling of rotted food revealed what had once been his favorite dish, she'd made his favorite dish, and given how full the pot was hadn't eaten any of it.

She didn't need him to eat the meal, she wasn't poisonous to herself after all.

Unbidden a memory of a dream came to him

" _Stay with me" he whispered; a feminine voice responded-_

 

* * *

 

Hailey Prescott was walking on air

Sex with Steven in a stunning reversal had been better sober the morning after, then it had been drunk the night before. Though he smiled and laughed at her mortification for her actions the previous night, and again when she had to tell him she was too exhausted to continue.

" _Wasn't I supposed to be the one ridden to exhaustion"_  he'd asked

 

God, that was embarrassing, but she couldn't help it; the view of his muscles made it clear he was raised by Kung Fu monks if his little grandstanding with the street performers hadn't. He clearly had the stamina, then there was the way he so easily found all her little spots, staring into her with blazing orange eyes.

 

She stopped on in the middle of her walk,

' _Orange? His eyes are green, right?_ ' she thought before shaking her head, she always thought his eyes were blazing that's probably why.

Currently she was standing outside his apartment door, she vaguely remembered him pointing it out to her on their drunken mosey back to her apartment.

 

_***Knock, knock, knock*** _

 

In her hand she had his phone that he'd left, a quick nosey peek had revealed all the information typed in a different language.

Which reminded her, he'd chanted something to her last night in some Asian language, she'd ignored it's significance but she did remember him chanting one word in particular, what was it-

 

The door opened and a gorgeous young woman only a few years younger than her with crimson red hair and hazel eyes stood before her in only a skimpy t-shirt and panties.

Hailey's mind froze for a second before she put on a false smile,

"I'm sorry I think I got the wrong apartment" and was halfway to turning to the door on the left when the woman cut her off.

"You looking for Steven?" she said crossing her arms ( _making her now clearly free bird breasts strain against the t-shirt_ ) and leaning against the door.

"Y-yes" she said feeling her heart beating in her throat, praying she told her he lived next door.

"He's doing the dishes he left in the kitchen last night, WHICH HE SHOULD'VE DONE LAST NIGHT, BUT WAS OUT GETTING SOME!" her voice ending in a yell to someone in the apartment.

"I'M DOING IT NOW WITCH" she heard Steven's familiar voice, and was pushed into full on panic mode.

 

Stepping into the door without being invited she saw Steven shirt off in a pair of sweats scrubbing away in a kitchenette, she barely heard the door closing behind her as he turned around to say something, paused and eyes widened.

"Ms. Prescott" the cheating bastard, cocked his head confused

"You forgot your phone" she held it up like some empirical evidence

He stared at her a moment more before smiling and grabbing it, she'd meant to let go, back away, curse, and go home to have a private cry, when he pulled her close to him and showed her off to the pants less woman watching the whole thing.

"I see you've already met my delightful sister, Anika", the woman in question flipped him off before crashing on the mattress and Hailey felt untold rivers of relief flow through her, "She's visiting this weekend"

"Is this the family thing that kept you from home" and god as her witness she would one day gain a brain to mouth filter.

The poisonous look Anika sent Steven actually made her step back, "Using our family issues to get laid, truly you are a paragon of virtue  _Steven_ "

Steven for his part narrowed his eyes dangerously, "You know I wouldn't do-"

"Whatever, I'm using the shower" she rudely interrupted, in a way Hailey was kinda glad, she'd never heard Steven sound so dangerous. She'd never heard him sound anything less than perfectly polite, clearly his sister knew a different side to him.

 

_She was close enough to him to provoke that other side_

After the door slammed, Steven sighed and ran his hand threw short cut brown hair, "That's going to be a pain to deal with." He muttered under his breath

"Did,,, did I do something wrong?"

"You, no, of course not" Steven said looking stunned she'd even suggested it, before sighing and looking drained, "There was an anniversary yesterday for the day our brothers died. Apparently she bought booze to celebrate, though we never do, and showed up to find me gone and leaving her waiting half the night"

 

"Oh my God, I am so sorry" She said feeling more than a little off kilter, he brought it up so casually, what was she supposed to say to that?

"It's been almost ten years now" she noticed he didn't say he was over it, "You taking my mind off things was something I really needed, her showing all this is just because she's mourning. I lost my best friend and my asshole big brother, she lost the baby brother she helped raise and her husband"

 

"…So you're not blood related" Hailey asked putting pieces together and desperate to mention something not depressing

"Ah no, she's my sister in law married to my brother Ren, she also one of the kids my mom adopted when I was thirteen." he explained before continuing in a low mumble, "She certainly pisses me off like a real sister"

He looked down at her said before arching a brow at her, "you thought I was a cheating bastard didn't you?"

"A little bit" she said a touch sheepishly, "she's really beautiful" she said turning her head to the closed shower door where she could here water running. Steven merely shrugged, paying more attention to his returned phone.

 

"How did he die?" she asked when it became clear he wasn't actually fiddling with the phone and just drowning in negative thoughts.

"Ren died from a sickness he had since before I was born, it caught up to him the same day Harry was gunned down by the police. Delinquents y'know, they didn't care we were just kids, or what we were really fighting for, just that we were criminal and so forfeit our rights."

It was an all too common story

"We?" because she really couldn't imagine straight laced Steven.

"I had a troubled youth" he chuckled mirthlessly, "You've seen my scars"

 

She had, they were… expansive.

 

They sat for a moment more, before they both heard the sound of a shower cutting off,

"You better go, I need to take care of this" he said with a weary sigh, she could only nod, clearly some deep things needed to be discussed and she was very much still an outsider.

He got her up and walked her to the door,

"By the way what's Biachi" she asked, Steven merely looked confused

"What?"

"Biachi, you kept calling me it in that in the language… last night" She flushed, "What's it mean?"

She looked up to see Steven had gone very still, before embarrassedly mumbling, "Maybe you should google it."

"That's not fair" she smacked him on the arm and he grinned "I'll see you Monday" she asked,

"15 minutes on time" he joked and she smiled, leaving with a far fuller picture of Steven Swanson.

* * *

Tsuna Sawada closed the door on his coworker and leaned his head against it,

"You shouldn't waste water just to eavesdrop, we're too broke for that you Mafia Princess" he mumbled against the closed door.

"You called her Biachi…?" said a voice behind him.

"Bianchi, just..," Tsuna sighed, not in the mood for her games

"Why did you call that girl my name, we look nothing alike" she pressed

"Because I'm young and stupid and have urges and your…" he trailed off "Please don't ask questions you know the answer to."

"I'm... what? Good fantasy material" she continued apparently not willing to let it go.

 

The entire time they'd been talking he'd yet to move from the door, but he could hear her moving closer to him with each sentence.

"Your more than that and you know it, why do you always feel the need to pick at everything" he grumbled

" I'm a storm, we're troublemakers by nature, I like troubling you and shaking up your whole world." She whispered almost at his back now, "Your my sky, I can't help it"

"An empty broken sky, I can't be the sun the shines through you." he whispered back.

"I'd never ask you to be, silly boy do you not understand a woman's heart at all", she pressed herself against him, apparently she'd divulged herself of the shirt when she was going to take a shower but got too distracted by eavesdropping.

He was acutely aware of the fact that he'd been doing dishes shirtless.

 

"You still mourn him" he said feeling he should be ashamed but couldn't for the life of him.

"I always will, as will you" he felt her breath against the nape of his neck.

"I'm sorry I missed dinner."

"I'm sorry I implied it was your fault"

"I'm sorry I used that girl"

"I'm not the one you should apologize to for that"

"Then I'm sorry for parading her around you"

"Tsunayoshi"

"Hmm"

"Stop apologizing and kiss me"

"…Okay"

.

"Wait"

"What?"

"…Stay with me?"

"Always"

 

**_Bianchi Path:_ Complete**


	3. Bitter but Sweet (Haru)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone confused on the last chapter, the Arcobaleno Battle doesn't go well and Tsuna is one of the few people present who survived Bermuda's onslaught.  
> He bolts from the Vongola; Bianchi goes with him because they're all each other really have left. Her husband/his big brother 'Ren' is Reborn who dies from a 'sickness', Harry is Hayato Gokudera, Anika is Bianchi, Steven is Tsuna, the cops are Vindice.  
> Yes, Tsuna plays that girl into sex to take away the pain of the anniversary; yes Tsuna and Bianchi are kind of each other's rebound, yes, they're about to do the dirty in the last scene.

 

**When they are together, it is Bittersweet point, that it is only because love is Envious**

 

 

 

Haru Miura is good at pretending

She pretends to be nowhere near as smart as she is because life like that is boring and leads to more teasing then she already gets

She pretends back in middle school that she's okay with having no friends, and that it doesn't bother her people think she's weird or laugh at her costumes that she puts her heart in soul into...

When Haru meets Tsuna her life makes a huge turnaround

She knows he doesn't feel quite comfortable around her, but unlike so many others, he doesn't turn her away

He doesn't snap at her, and other than the occasional _'What the hell?'_ look he gives her, he merely smiles at her uniqueness with a smile that makes her heart stutter every time she sees it.

 

But even when she is with Tsuna and all the new friends she's made through him, she still has to pretend:

She pretends that Gokudera's comments don't sometimes hurt as much as they piss her off

She pretends that she doesn't constantly worry for their safety, that the Mafia doesn't scare as much as intrigue her

She even pretends later on when they get trapped in a _future-that-never-was_ that she's not sick and terrified every moment of the day.

 

She pretends, because that's what Tsuna needs from her

He needs her to be strong and to ignore the hate from Gokudera because he can't leave his oldest and closest friend just for her.

Tsuna needs her not to be afraid of the Mafia because he's clearly scared too, and both of them being afraid won't help anybody. She pretends not to be devastated when he finally comes out and tells her the full story during that _future-that-never-was_ , because he's about to be fighting for the fate of the whole  _world_  and he doesn't need some crying little girl to take care of while he's clearly trying to hold it all together by the skin of his teeth-

 

Lately Haru is getting tired of pretending, because now there's something she has to pretend not to see every day.

 

Haru's not blind to Tsuna's lack of feelings for her; though from the few times he's blushed around her, Haru knows that Tsuna is at least abstractly aware that she is attractive. She also knows that being attracted to is not the same as love, just as she knows there is someone that Tsuna does love… and it's not her.

"C'mon Haru, the cake shop is about to close, if we don't hurry now we'll have to get something mass produced" says a cheerful voice snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Ah, Haru is coming, wait for her!" she yells sprinting to catch up with her golden haired friend, the whole reason they're going to this shop in the first place is that the cakes are hand maid every day.

After multiple sabotaging lessons from Bianchi, both of their abilities to make desserts are irrevocably shot, despite their mutual abilities in the kitchen. The cake is the last part of the meal necessary for tonight's gathering and after spending half the afternoon cooking, they need to run out and grab a proper dessert before the shop closes.

"Safe" Kyoko chirps a few minutes later coming out of the shop with a box of fresh cake, and Haru grins at her friend's happiness; Kyoko doesn't play when it comes to her cakes.

 

Before she can respond a familiar voice cuts her off

"Haru?" and immediately her heart starts to do the cha cha, as that familiar chocolate warm voice wraps around her name

Haru turns to greet her love enthusiastically like always,

"Tsuna!" she says launching at him for a flying hug, and she watches him brace himself with a slightly resigned look

"Stop bothering him stupid woman!" and it's no surprise who that is, it could only be Tsuna's annoying shadow Gokudera

"Tsuna greeted Haru Stupidera, she is not the one who came up to bother him" she childishly sticks her tongue at him, using Lambo's infuriating nickname.

Predictably he looks ready to explode, and the bickering begins in earnest

"You little-"

"Kyoko-chan!" she hears Tsuna's voice brighten up instantly in a surprised exclamation, and Haru pretends the term of endearment doesn't hurt compared to the lack in her own.

"Hello Tsu-kun" Kyoko answers almost shyly back, and Haru pretends that doesn't hurt even worse

 

In the last year or so it seemed that Kyoko finally started to become aware of the wonder that is Tsuna, and almost every meeting between the two of them has been fraught with these shy greetings.

Haru slides off him and pretends it doesn't hurt when he steps forward towards her best friend without even a glance back at the girl who loves him; only a blind man couldn't see where this was going, and even then they'd still hear it being screamed from the heavens it was so obvious.

The entire trip back to the house is dominated by Kyoko and Tsuna's shy chattering while she and Gokudera bicker back and forth.

Haru pretends not to notice the lack of attention

 

The whole meeting is short and lasts for only an hour in which they discuss some of the various positions and responsibilities their group will be expected to take in the Vongola moving forward.

The Vongola may be mafia, but in today's world, organizations as big as Vongola are managed more like companies than family groups, and actual positions like CFO and Heads of departments need to be assigned.

They'll be finishing high school soon and their continued educations need to be geared to what legal business positions they'll be taking as their covers.

Eventually the smell of food becomes unbearable and the meeting is ended early with the only thing really decided is that Tsuna will of course be the boss and Gokudera will be his Chief of Staff.

 

After a typical chaotic dinner, Haru is coming back from the bathroom where she just so happens to see Tsuna and Kyoko sitting outside on the porch from the window and the usual chaos in the room fades to a background buzz.

They're not sitting especially close, they're not holding hands, or kissing, and she certainly can't hear them to know if some monumental confession is happening, but she can see the look of utter peace and happiness on Tsuna's face and something in her heart just breaks off and dies.

 

Haru can't pretend not to see anymore

 

* * *

 

"Reborn" she asks the now eight year old looking child-man, and her voice is devoid of… anything really.

The hitman looks at her curiously

"Haru would like Reborn to make her the CFO for the Seashell Corporation" she looks down at him determined, sure Tsuna has final say, but they all know if it doesn't pass Reborn's approval first it will never make it to Tsuna at all.

The hitman tilts his head so his hat is just shadowing his face, its standard Reborn procedure to say he's taking her seriously.

 

"You're not a guardian" Reborn answers her steadily

"So Reborn wants Lambo or Ryohei in charge of that sort of thing instead?" she asks with a skeptically raised eyebrow

"Shouichi or Spanner can do that" he serves back unconcerned

"They're not guardians either" she counters

"They have a genius and experience in this world to counter that, you are a slightly smarter than average civilian girl reeling from a case of unrequited love and looking for something to prove herself not worthless" Reborn says coldly

Haru pretends that his comment doesn't cut as deep as it does; she already spent half the week's nights staring into space and the other half crying her eyes out on the phone to Bianchi.

She should have figured Bianchi would have told  _her_  love everything, assuming the hitman didn't just use his mind reading to figure it out

 

"Haru is far more than 'just some civilian girl'" she says strongly, but careful not to let any sign of temper enter her voice, whiny teenage girls throwing tantrums won't change anybody's mind, "And Shouichi and Spanner have far more important positions to occupy somewhere in R&D. Haru is the highest rated student in her school, is a close trusted friend to the Vongola Decimo inner circle, and she can say she has something few else do."

"And what's that?" he asks no less coldly, but she can tell she's intrigued him

"The sheer balls to look the world's greatest hitman in the eye and tell him to give. Her. That. Job."

There's a brief silence as he stares her down, and no Haru is not oblivious to the killing intent bearing down on her, but this is a test and Haru has always been good at tests, and she's even better at pretending not to be scared.

 

"This is still a mafia business" he answers after a pause, his voice doesn't hint in the slightest whether he approves or not, "You'd need to know how to fight."

"Haru will train" she answers succinctly, honestly she's been trying to train in at least basic self-defense since before even the Varia Incident

"And who will be training you?" he raises a brow, daring her to say him

"Hibari-sempai" she answers without hesitation, and by the blink she knows she's got him

There's another brief pause before he answers again

"Keep your grades up, and convince Hibari and we'll make it happen"

She nods, she already asked him to train her, for reasons she'll never know he accepted.

' _Maybe he's just nicer to those who have the courage to talk to him?'_  Haru thinks, though she didn't miss the glance he sent to Tsuna when she asked, ' _And Haru is one of the top students in her class at an elite school for girls, she has nothing to worry about. Probably.'_

 

"This won't get his attention you know" the hitman calls after her as she spins to exit the room, though unlike before his voice is no longer cold, only warning her not to get her heart broken

"She is not so shallow Reborn", she answers without turning back, "Haru loves him as her Sky first and foremost before anything else"

Haru can almost pretend to believe it.

 

* * *

 

_Two days later Kyoko and Tsuna announce they are a couple, and Haru pretends again._

* * *

 

Haru has Lightning Flames and she's not sure whether to feel ecstatic or terrified about that.

On the one hand Lightning attribute is hardening, they make the best defensive fighters and if she practices enough, she'll no longer be kept in the back or told to stay home like some fine china you're afraid might get broken.

She can  _fight_ , her opinions will hold more weight when she takes her seat at the table, the boys (and Chrome) no longer have any legitimate excuses to keep her at arm's length when things get serious anymore.

On the other hand now that Hibari-sensei is aware that she wouldn't die if he lets loose a little, he starts to hit her more often during their training.  _Hard_

 

"Oof" she lets out a sound of a choking dying orangutan when one of her sensei's tonfa come slamming into her gut and sends her flying across the mat; it's not an attractive or feminine sound in the slightest.

A good five seconds pass as Haru wheezing tries to make the spots appearing in her head fade,

' _God Haru thinks she taste blood in her mouth'_  she groans in her mind  _'if this continues Haru really will die trying to get this job'_

"Get up kitten, we're not done yet" comes the utterly unsympathetic voice of her teacher

Haru winces and begins the burning process of dragging her beaten body into at the very least a fetal position. Not moving at all, she has learned, will only get her kicked again while she's down

 

' _I'm not training you to fight in herbivorous tournaments with rules' Hibari-sensei told her during one of his rare moments of multiple word verbal instruction, 'in a real fight you stay still you die'_

 

Since then whenever she fell, no matter how hard she fell, she made sure to push her body right back up or at least make it look like she was trying.

"Fighting stance Kitten" he instructed once she pulled herself wobbly to her feet

Despite what some might call a demeaning nickname, Haru felt herself straighten up a bit when he called her it.

A kitten was a baby cat, and even if only a mostly defenseless baby, a cat was  _not_  a herbivore. The nickname meant that Hibari respected her enough, or at least her potential, to give her an animal specific classification.

Even some of the other guardians, Gokudera, Ryohei, Chrome, and Lambo were still regulated to mere herbivores; with Takeshi being slightly higher as 'Dog' and Mukuro being significantly lower as Pineapple- a food that even Herbivores devoured.

 

" _Your roar is not yet strong enough to make me bow little lion cub"_

 

Haru shook her head to clear herself of distracting thought of the last person to earn that respect from her teacher, and focuses on the fight in front of her.

There's no warning, one moment he's on the other side of the dojo, the next theirs a skull cracking piece of metal careening towards her head,

Not allowing herself to think or even contemplate how this happened, she ducks at the sudden movement and strikes at him with her own blunt metal instrument.

The older man dodges her attacks so smoothly and gracefully you'd think he were dancing

 

' _That is so unfair'_

At one point he ducks so low that he's practically kissing the ground, it catches her off guard. Hibari is not a particularly tall man, but he's definitely taller than her, as are most fighters she's encountered since her training began, she's never had to defend herself from below.

The uppercut that impacts her chin makes her teeth rattle and her feet lift the ground; in an unnecessarily showy move, Hibari uses her hang time to hit her with a spinning heel kick that once more sends her flying across the mat.

Yes she is very thankful for her lightning flames

 

"-CK IS WRONG WITH YOU!?" she hears several moments later as her vision clears up from her latest blackout, that sounds like Gokudera, what is he doing here?

Sure enough when she looks over, she sees a suited up silverette in the middle of the training room breathing in an uncaring Hibari's face.

' _No not uncaring'_  she corrects seeing the slightly harsher clenching of his tonfa,  _'irritated. Come to think of it, since when was Gokudera stupid enough to get in Hibari's face like that?'_

Groaning piteously, Haru drags herself into something of a standing position despite it being the harshest hit she's taken since their training sessions began.

She tries to open her mouth to speak but has to bite down on the urge to puke the moment her brain catches up to the fact that she's not still crumpled on the ground like it told her body to.

 

An unfeminine 'Ugh' is all she can get out but it does the trick and in a moment Gokudera is by her side checking on her, green eyes wide with undisguised worry.

_'What the heck is wrong with you?'_ , she tries to ask but only gets out another groaned trying to hold the puke in sound.

"Your guard is pathetic Kitten" Hibari says apathetically ignoring the screaming bomber

"Her guar-, YOU USED FLAMES ON HER YOU BASTARD!" Gokudera roars, reaching into his pockets obviously prepared to bomb her teacher and his fellow guardian, consequences be damned.

' _Wait, he used Flames?'_  she thought

"Lower quality, hardly visible to those without high Flame sense, but strong enough to stop a charging boar" Gokudera answers not taking his glare off of Hibari, and she realizes she spoke out loud.

 

"Haru tanked a Flame hit from Hibari-sensei!" she yells surprised, but not out of fear or anger like Gokudera, but because she's actually kind of amazed with herself.

Monsters like Takeshi and Tsuna notwithstanding, it takes years to develop that kind of hardheadedness to tank Flame attacks, let alone gain the skill that would make Hibari result to using his flames at all.

And yeah she's been training for almost three years now, but three years couldn't even get you a black belt in ordinary martial arts, let alone make you skilled enough to go against fighters with decades of experience and a magical powered fire for a boost.

"No you didn't" Hibari immediately rains on her parade, "You nearly lost consciousness, your guard is pathetic. Train with the crying cow herbivore for a few weeks, we're done"

And with that he walked out of the room without a backwards glance to her whose self-esteem he'd just crushed.

 

"OI, GET BACK HERE YOU BASTARD WHERE NOT FINISHED" Gokudera roared, it was clear by the half step he took towards the door that he wanted to chase after him, but he refused to move and leave her to support herself.

' _Seriously what is with him'_  she thought giving him a skeptical look,  _'he's never been like this with Haru before, and she knows he has had worse training than this-'_

 

 

An image of a nasty scar on Chrome's lower back glimpsed as the girl exits the bath hits her

" _Chrome what happened!?"_

" _Training" she said in that old painfully dull voice she used to speak in, as if her pain was something unimportant that wasn't worth getting upset over, "This is still nothing compared to what Boss and the others have."_

 

 

Haru never forgot _that_ particular slice of humble pie ever so casually jammed down her throat; it was one of the less selfish reasons she agreed to this hellish training, it was why no matter how hard it got never once would she complain.

"Gokudera" she asked with tired curiosity as he finally ran out of steam barking at the entrance Hibari walked out of, "Why are you here?"

He looked down at her and searched her face for a long moment, that if she had the energy to be uncomfortable she would have shifted uneasily.

"What is wrong with you!" she snaps at him defensively, because really it was his fault for weirding her out like he was.

 

Immediately he snaps out of whatever trance he was in and scowled back down at her

"What's wrong with me, what the hell is wrong with you!" he snaps back

"Her!" she yell back indignant, what has she done! "You're the one staring at Haru's face all creepy like that!"

"How could I not!" he roars, and her eyes widen. A second later his own widen too, but rather than telling her to 'get stupid thoughts out of her stupid head' like he did years before, he coughs and looks embarrassed.

It's such a non-Gokudera action that she finds herself flat footed by how to respond. Gokudera is a Storm, Haru is a Lightning; the two elements are brothers on the power wheel ( _which makes absolutely_ _ **no**_ _sense to Haru since Lightning hardens and strengthens while Storm disintegrates and destroys_ ) and like brothers they get on each other's nerves quite easily.

 

Gokudera and Haru have had a thing going for the better part of five or six years now which is filled with sibling like bickering. They're both loud strong passionate personalities, they're both the most academically intelligent in their group, and they both care about Tsuna more than all the others.

It is the last that both brings them together and tears them apart more than any other pair in their group. Even if she's decided to give up on her fruitless chase after Tsuna, she has not stopped always being there for him, and being his number one champion.

' _Number two to him'_  she can't help but think

 

 

 

" _Haru, are you okay" seventeen year old Tsuna asks her, after somehow managing to corner her in the sole secluded spot in this entire jam packed party for Reborn's birthday._

" _Of course" she chirps as happily as ever, even as part of her is dying a little bit inside. She noticed the promise ring on Kyoko's finger when the two came in, and decided that this would be one of the parties she sat out for once._

_Tsuna looks into her with burning orange eyes that she always loved, and really it's kind of unfair that he only turns those soul searching eyes on her when she wants to be most alone._

" _It's just that" Tsuna starts off so sweetly and nervously, even after years of knowing each other he's always so hesitant with sharing his feelings, "We haven't seen you in a while, I was beginning to think you may have been avoiding us"_

 

_He even finishes off with a short chuckle that she forces herself to give an amused snort at, even as panic and shame well up inside of her._

_She's had almost a year to get used to seeing them together, but Tsuna isn't wrong, there has been avoidance._

' _What is Haru doing' she thinks to herself, 'just because she didn't get the guy doesn't mean she can abandon her friends'_

_Didn't she tell Reborn she loved Tsuna as her sky more than any teenage crush; their world is too dangerous to hold on to such fickle things._

 

_So instead she shakes her head and gently takes his hands in her own, bringing them to the side of her face caressing them. She enjoys the surprised flush that crosses his face, funny not even her glomping him with a hug was enough to make him blush even when she wanted him to._

" _Haru is very busy right now Tsuna-kun, she is trying to make herself stronger to be able to continue following the rest of you." She says honestly, and tries not to get nervous at how focused burning orange eyes are on her, "But please do not think she would ever leave you, even if Haru was upset with you"_

_And she hadn't, she deliberately got over herself, greeted Kyoko with a hug, and through herself into the festivities. She would always be there for the people who needed her, because that was what a Lightning did for their Sky; they accepted pain so the people they loved wouldn't have to… because they were hardened… because they could take it._

 

 

But it wasn't the Sky that was bothering her right now; it was the Storm who was currently going off of a very carefully crafted script that the two had been acting out for the better part of five years.

' _How could he not what, stare at Haru's face?'_  she thought getting slightly flustered at the pause,  _'Is he trying to tell Haru she's pretty, does he…'_

"I mean" Gokudera rallied on after his momentary slip, "Look at you, your all beat up"

And just like that the walls came down and Haru was suddenly on familiar ground again

"I'd like to see you look better after going a few rounds with Hibari-sensei, you pretty faced chain smoker" she growled out, so what if she looked a little raggedy, that just meant she was giving it her all.

"Exactly!" Gokudera continued ignoring her 'insult' to his own looks; it was a frequent jab of hers to taunt him for his mixed and somewhat exotic looks, "Why were you picking a fight with that monster anyway!"

"That  _monster_  is my teacher!" she held back honestly offended on Hibari's behalf, yes he was brutal, filled with blood lust, cruel, snarky, rude, unsympathetic, possibly sociopathic… but he was her teacher, and no one called him monster, "And we were sparring before you rudely interrupted!"

"Sparring!?" he yelled incredulously, looking at her like she was crazy, "He was wiping the floor with you!  _Brutally_!"

 

Haru gritted her teeth, it was true, but she didn't like being reminded of the fact that he had witnessed her embarrassing defeat

"Like Gokudera could do better!" she screamed, everyone knew that in their circle of friends the only ones who could perceivably stand up to Hibari let alone beat him were Tsuna and Mukuro, the Arcobaleno didn't count, "Why does Gokudera even care!"

"Maybe I don't like seeing you hurt alright!" Gokudera screamed back, his face flushed, obviously embarrassed and frustrated.

Haru found herself once more caught off balance as Gokudera seemed to veer off script; this was around the time that he would typically say  _'I don't, I just don't want the Tenth to have to worry over you useless woman'_  or something else juvenile.

 

"Bull" she narrowed her eyes suspiciously

That snapped his patience, "LOOK I SAID JUST DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU HURT ALRIGHT YOU DAMN WITCH!"

"AND HARU SAID BULL" she yelled back, "WHEN HAVE YOU EVER CARED ABOUT HARU, HER FEELINGS, HER WELL BEING, HER-"

"I'VE ALWAYS CARED ABOUT YOU!" he roared over her

There was a sudden silence as she stared wide eyed at him and he glared down at her with seriousness, frustration, and some other third emotion that made something in her stomach tighten nervously.

"I was an idiot when I was younger" he continued in a quieter voice, not a whisper, but under the pounding of her heart in her ears it might as well have been, "I suck at emotions, and I hate letting people in, but, you've always been family… even when I didn't understand why you made me so… you made me so uncomfortable so I… I did what I always did and got mad… but I don't hate you… I … I…"

Throughout his speech Haru stared at him wide eyed, apparently the script that had held them together, that had kept all those 'uncomfortable emotions' from coming out had been thrown out long ago.

 

It's not like she didn't know what he was talking about, not like the stray thought didn't cross her mind when they were the only two who understood some "smart person joke", or when they were arguing about nothing and she could see his eyes light up from the challenge of someone willing to push back against his overbearing personality and knew her eyes were the same.

"Gokudera" she cut him off, because it was still too early, their emotions still confused, her face still sweaty and stinky, her heart still…

 

" _Haru won't ever leave you"_

 

"Why are you here?" she asks instead

She watched as something inside him seemed to deflate and he took a subtle step back, she hadn't even noticed how close they'd gotten.

"Our meeting with the Ninth has been moved up, so we need to get packed tonight instead of tomorrow." He answered in a subdued voice

"Okay, thank you for telling Haru, she has a lot of packing to still do." she nods in an uncharacteristically polite manner

"Just don't bring any of your weird ass fruit costumes" he grumbles already turning for the door, "We want to make a  _good_  impression."

"How rude" she huffs out, crossing her arms as they fall back into their original roles, "Haru knows not to do that, and even so she has moved on from fruit costumes ages ago"

"Yeah, yeah whatever" he rumbles rudely slipping out the door

"…"

There is a moment of silence as Haru releases a long sigh, that was too clo-

"Coward" says a dark voice just a few feet to her right

The scream that escapes her is shrill enough to wake the dead

 

Turning to the side she sees a completely dressed Hibari, hair wet presumably from the dojo's shower, staring at her with a dead look in his eyes

"H-Hibari-sensei, how long have you been standing there!?" she points accusingly at him, even as her face flushes in embarrassment

' _We didn't say anything too damning'_  she thinks hurriedly,  _'He couldn't have… have…'_

"I care about you, I want to mate with you" Hibari responds in a deadpan tone that sounds nothing like Gokudera, even so she flushes horribly

 

"H-he didn't say that" she tries to come off nonchalant, but it comes out too high pitched and nervous, Haru has always said what she was thinking and is a poor liar because of it.

Her response is not a lie, but she knows neither are Hibari's words

"Coward" he repeats, and Haru flinches, she never wants to disappoint her teacher, her ability to never run away is what made him continue 'teaching' her all this time

"…" she opens her mouth, but she really has no response, she's a coward

Suddenly a hand roughly pats her head

"Kittens are curious, be curious, and see what you can see." Hibari-sensei's advice has always been notoriously difficult to understand, but Haru pretty much gets the gist of it. That advice though solid is not however the problem, the problem is

 

"Why is sensei being so nice to Haru?" she questions suspiciously, cause yeah he helps her with her fighting, but this encouraging and head patting is just damn suspicious.

"All cats are fickle" he says with a devilish grin that Haru is sure caused the death of a thousand puppies somewhere in the world, "I just want to see a baby cats reaction"

Haru goes from suspicious to confused to finally resigned,

' _Hibari-sensei's animal metaphors really just don't make sense'_  she thinks,  _'In any case'_

"Thank you for the advice sensei" she says respectfully, and almost has a heart attack when she hears him make a dry coughing sound.

 

Hibari has just laughed

 

Haru tries to swallow her suddenly dry throat as she carefully backs out of the dojo. Hibari continues to watch her with an amused sadistic smirk, a few more dry coughs escape, and it's all the signal Haru needs to turn around and bolt.

Some things are better off not known in this world

 

Somewhere in her dead panicked sprint she runs into a figure walking along the hallway

"OW! Fu-, Who in the hell-, Miura?" says the stunned face of Gokudera as she crashed into him, her flames she activated in her terror make the impact more solid.

"Sorry Gokudera-kun, Haru was just escaping the sounds of a bell toiling" she gasps out still exhausted from her training and fear induced run

"Right" Gokudera says in a tone that says he knows somethings up, but won't ask lest he catch her crazy

' _How rude'_

"So what do you need?" he asks in a voice that's about five times too nonchalant, and Haru knows he's trying to seem casual, like he hadn't been one step from putting 'it' all out there a moment ago.

Haru stares at him for a moment thinking about what she wants to say

_Coward_

"Gokudera-kun, do you maybe after dinner… want to like go… out for ice-cream with Haru" she says fidgeting with her shirt, and she is hyper aware of how disgusting and sweaty she must look right now "you know… just the two of us"

For a moment he doesn't answer and just stares at her, and she is one hundred percent ready to take it all back and go hide like a coward her teacher thinks she is. But something must show on her face, because he snaps out of his daze and answers.

"Ah, yeah sure that would be cool" he tries to say nonchalantly, but he's not meeting her eyes and theirs a huge flush on his face.

"Oh, okay" she says

"Okay" he says

…

"Okay"

"Okay"

…

She grins, just a little teasing, just a little shy

"Okay"

He smiles back softy

"Okay"

 

Storm and Lightning were like brothers, they got on each other's nerves, and they worked well together more than any other elements. Even in nature there was no one without the other, they were just compatible.

Hayato and Haru are storm and lightning, they just go together.

 

Haru likes to pretend that's all she needs

 

* * *

 

It's a grand total of four months since Haru and Hayato have started to have their nightly outings

Throughout their group of friends people have been beginning to catch on little by little. Surprisingly it is Ryohei who is the first one to oust them, apparently the man can recognize the sight of young love in the air because of his own relationship with his 'promise girl' or something.

It's then that she remembers that old boxing club captain from high school is surprising good with girls and relationships in general.

 

The mist duo is the next to realize something is going on, but then again it's in their nature to spy on everybody and dig around in their personal lives; Mukuro gets a strangely similar smile to Hibari when he confronts her about it.

Hoping to head off any potential blackmail that the Mist user may have in mind, Haru tells him this to his face. The smile disappears immediately and she later hears her sensei smugly holding over the Mist's head how slow he can be on the uptake for a supposed information gatherer

Mukuro was firmly distracted.

 

Surprisingly enough the only one who seemed utterly oblivious to the change in her relationship status was the person who should have seen through them easily.

"So what are your plans for our next off day Hayato" Tsuna asked tiredly hunched over a mile high stack of papers, "I don't know about you, but I'm getting a little claustrophobic in this office, whaddayasay we go out into the city this weekend?"

"U-um, T-tenth about that" Hayato said flustered and Haru knew why; they had planned to go on a date on that particular day.

There first one in quite a while, aging meant increase of responsibility to go with the freedoms and they had all been busy. They had already canceled the last two dates, and Haru was looking forward to some alone time with her boyfriend.

Hayato looks to her as if asking her opinion on whether or not to tell him about them.

 

It never occurs to Haru until just now to ask why it is exactly it is they're keeping their relationship a secret from Tsuna in the first place.

' _Haru didn't want to stress him?'_  she thinks, but why would learning that two of his friends are dating stress him, that kind of answer would probably have made logical sense to Hayato who knows more than anyone how much Tsuna really works behind his smiles to keep the rest of them happy.

Hayato is truly terrible with emotions and is not the kind of man to announce to the world that he's in a relationship at all, but Haru, Haru is.

Haru loves, and she loves love; she falls quickly and deeply, she doesn't shy away from expressing her feelings loudly, publicly, and will often hold onto the one she loves with an iron grip with zero sense of embarrassment.

So why have they not told Tsuna?

 

"A-actually Tenth, I may have something planned for that day." Hayato answers when its clear Haru doesn't have a response for him

"Really?" Tsuna looks up curiously, orange eyes clouded with confusion, "I don't remember there being anything on our roster for this weekend" Tsuna said absently going through papers to find the schedule, "In fact we went out of our way to clear those two days for whatever, did something come up?"

"U-uh no, just wanted to take care of some things Tenth" Hayato answers looking incredibly uncomfortable before shooting Haru another glance to see which way she wants to go on this.

Haru honestly doesn't know, she knows Hayato won't say anything unless Haru agrees, because she was the one that suggested they keep it to themselves in the first place, and Hayato agreed not to stress Tsuna or share his personal life with idiots.

Still, Haru once thought Tsuna as her everything, and parading the relationship she's in with essentially his best friend seems… wrong.

 

"Oh, did you want to stock up on bombs or go to some science seminar or something?" Tsuna is once more looking at Hayato expectantly, and it's clear from his tone that he's still fully expecting to tag along.

"Um, not quite Tenth" Hayato answers still looking at her not knowing Tsuna is looking at him.

Tsuna follows his gaze to Haru, and Haru feels a heat rise to her cheeks at his scrutiny, there's something incredibly embarrassing about all of this.

"Am I missing something?" Tsuna finally asks, glancing between the two of them confused

 

"Oh for the love of common sense take a hint Sawada!" Hana says flinging her hands into the air from where she and the rest of the peanut gallery have remained forgotten in the sudden awkward atmosphere, "The monkey and Miura want to go on a date, alone, without you."

Both Haru and Hayato flush like a couple of middle schoolers, both irritated at her rudeness, but neither willing to say she's wrong.

There's a brief pause as Tsuna stares between the two confused for a moment before the light bulb goes off.

"Eh" Tsuna blinks rapidly before his eyes all but pop from his skull, "Eeeeeeeeeeeh!?"

"Seriously Sawada, how slow can you be" Hana rolls her eyes, "You really think they're going on nightly walks to 'check the perimeter'"

 

Tsuna still looks shocked head whipping between the two of them and the rest of the room

"W-wait, you all knew!?" Tsuna shouts surprised

"Kufufufu, of course I know everything Tsunayoshi"

"Duh Tsuna-nii"

"Idiot, still a cub, baby carnivore"

"Ha ha, I didn't know it was a secret"

"Sorry for not saying anything Boss, but they looked like they were trying hard to keep it a secret"

' _Thanks for that Chrome'_  Haru thought as one by one everyone including the kids admitted that neither she nor Hayato were any kind of stealth

"EXTREMELY obvious Sawada, you are just EXTREMELY slow!"

"Even Ryo-nii knew!" Tsuna shouted

' _No Tsuna doesn't need to feel ashamed, we're all surprised about that'_  Haru thought sweat dropping

 

"I'm sorry for keeping something like this from you Tenth!" Hayato shouts and full on prostrates himself, slamming his head against the floor with speed and weight of a sledge hammer

"No no it's fine, please get up Hayato!" Tsuna quickly shouts, but Haru can't help notice there is something shaky about his tone.

' _Is something wrong with the two of them dating, or more importantly Hayato dating her?'_

 

"Still, why didn't you guys tell me?" he asks, but his attention is on _Haru_ as he asks, and for a brief moment it feels like they're the only two in the room and it's the party from two years ago where he asked her if she was avoiding him and…

There's just a touch of hurt in his tone...

Which is understandable, considering they've all known each other for years and Hayato is his best friend.

Haru can vaguely understand, she was the first person Kyoko told that she was dating Tsuna; if she hadn't already known beforehand there was no way she could have wished the other girl happiness with an accepting smile.

 

' _But that's not right'_ Haru thought, ' _the two situations are completely different'_

"No one had to tell us either" Hana continues mercilessly, "We're just not stupid"

"You're so busy Tenth that we didn't want to bother you with it" Hayato interjected sending a black glare at Hana who ignored it

"I must be if even the kids noticed before me" Tsuna mumbled under his breath, but they still heard him in the silence of the room as everyone waited for his reaction.

Despite their blasé attitude Tsuna was still the boss, the head honcho, a big brother and father figure to most of them despite being the youngest of their generation excluding the kids; his approval or disapproval held a weight to it, and his lack of positive reaction was not inspiring.

"A-are you mad Tenth" Hayato asked hesitantly and Haru could feel her heart racing

Tsuna looked at him blankly for a moment, before his eyes flickered to hers and Haru felt… something.

"Yes" Tsuna answered evenly, there was a heart stopping silence in the room and Haru felt that… something… clench in her stomach before he continued, "I'm angry at myself"

 

"...Huh/huh" went her and Hayato

"You two are my closest, most passionate… somewhat clingiest, friends and I've been so busy with work I didn't even notice you finding happiness" Tsuna said in an evenly measured voice, she couldn't help but feel there was something… off about his tone, like he was trying to make it sound a certain way but failing, "I bet you've had to cancel dates to work around me haven't you?"

She and Hayato shared a quick glance before shaking their head firmly in the negative

"OF COURSE NOT TENTH, YOU COULD NEVER-"

"WE ALWAYS PLANNED OUR TIME EFFICIENTLY AND-"

"NO TROUBLE WHATSOEVER-"

"IF ANYTHING I FEEL GUILTY FOR HOW MUCH TIME WE SKIVE OFF FRO-"

" .ALL. TENTH!"

"…"

"…"

"…So how many dates have you had to cancel?"

"…This week?" Haru asked weakly, and Tsuna sighed guiltily

 

"How long  _have_  you guys been going out?" Tsuna asked, once again his eyes flickering more towards her than Hayato, did he not trust his right hand to tell him the truth about these things for some reason?

Granted prior record hasn't been inspiring with his right hand failing to report one out of one, 100% of his girlfriends' existences, but still?

"Three freaking months" Hana answered interrupted yet again to sass; she was the only one who was perhaps not fully aware of Tsuna's authority what with Ryohei refusing to allow her into the darker sides of their semi-legal business.

"Four" Hibari corrected with that same odd sadistic smile on his face when he first convinced her to go after Hayato.

She felt and saw the shivers go around the room at the smile

 

She's the only one who wasn't freaked out enough to notice the rather annoyed look on Tsuna's face. The younger man sent a scathing glare at her teacher that actually scared her as much as Hibari's smile.

 

The glare only lasted a second and she only caught it because she was watching Tsuna rather than getting distracted by Hibari's odd facial expression, which widened at Tsuna's ire.

' _Haru is getting real tired of not knowing what's going on'_

 

"I see" Tsuna sighed, "I'm deeply sorry, well now that I know I'll try to give you some more time off."

"Ah Tsuna you don't have to" Haru began to counter feeling a touch awkward for reasons she refused to acknowledge about having her old… crush… supporting her relationship with his best friend.

"Nonsense!" Tsuna clapped cutting her off; like a flip had been switched he was suddenly an overenthusiastic with wide doe eyes, "We can even go on double dates, you two with me and Kyoko! Kyoko and I have been looking for another couple to do couple things with, but the only ones we have are Ryo-nii and Hana"

"Hey, what's wrong with me and Ryohei" Hana challenged

Tsuna didn't even answer just gave her look almost to say ' _What isn't?'_ before ignoring her seething expression, turning back to them and jabbering on a mile a minute about how happy he was and how great it was they were dating.

 

Haru pretends she doesn't know what the mild sting she feels at his reaction is

 

* * *

 

"Hahi!" Haru shouts in surprise, rightfully so, in her honest opinion

Standing across from her covered in bruises and with a split lip is her teacher Hibari Kyoya

 

The world itself seems to stop, because nobody, repeat NOBODY, beats Hibari freaking Kyoya; not without him being previously injured, exhausted, poisoned, AND severely outnumbered and even then Haru wouldn't bet on your chances.

"Fighting stance Kitten" Hibari says nonchalantly as if nothing happened and he doesn't look like he just went ten rounds with a meat grinder… and lost.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO HIBARI-SENSEI!?" she screeches ignoring his instructions

When the man swats his tonfa at her it's almost pathetic how easily she dodges

"SEE, HARU DIDN'T EVEN HAVE TO TRY TO DODGE, NOW TELL HER WHAT'S WR-OW!", she cringes as his next swing is nowhere near as sluggish as the last, nearly reaching the speed of his usual swings.

' _Monster'_  she thinks holding her head

 

"Fighting stance" he repeats gruffly, and reluctantly she holds her questions till at least the end of the spar.

An hour later the both of them are panting for once and Hibari calls off her training

"Will [ _ **pant]**_ , will you tell Haru, [ _ **gasp]**_ , what happened to Hibari-sensei?" she wheezes out, at least she isn't on the edge of consciousness.

The smile that takes over the Cloud's face is just as frightening as she remembers

"A spoiled baby cat" Hibari answers in an extremely satisfied and amused voice

"..."

"..."

' _Why can't he make sense? '_ she thinks with a huff, when it becomes clear her teacher won't elaborate

"Don't you have work to do with the cub?" Hibari asks still amused

Haru's eyes widen, that's right she and Tsuna have to go inspect some restaurant that the Seashell Corporation is thinking of buying for the Vongola. The two of them will be dressed in casual clothes so that the managers won't realize their being inspected, it's the kind of thing that the two of them have been doing more and more often.

 

It seems her relationship with his best friend is enough to remove whatever lingering awkwardness Tsuna once felt around her, and he's been trying to get close to the one his best friend has claimed as a lover.

As the CFO in training for the Seashell Corporation, Tsuna wants her in reach of him as much as Hayato and the three of them are now joined at the hip for most assignments.

She enjoys the extra time with Hayato, she ignores the extra time with Tsuna

 

"Hahi, that's right, Haru needs to get ready." She exclaims hopping up from the mat, she can't greet Tsuna all sweaty like this

The coughing cackling noise she recognizes as Hibari's laugh only makes her run out all the faster

Haru spends over an hour and a half getting ready

 

When she meets up with him on the street in front of the restaurant and gives her a cheerful smile she has to stop herself from screaming again.

"What happened to Tsuna-kun!?" well at least it was lower than the scream she gave Hibari

The man in front of her is dressed in a classy but not overly fancy button up and slacks with a simple leather jacket over the button up.

There's also a white medical patch over his right eye and a band aid over his left eyebrow; and though Haru can't see it she just knows his body has similar bandages as the one around Hibari's torso.

 

"Nothing" he answers with the same soft smile like absolutely nothing's wrong, "Shall we go inside?"

Haru stares at him blankly wondering if all males were stupid or if they just thought all woman were stupid.

"I promise I'll tell you when were done" he says in a softer voice leaning into her ear so as not to attract the attention of the perky thing approaching them with a menu, "But we got to work now, so wait please"

Burning orange eyes look at her like a whimpering puppy begging for scraps

Haru folds shamefully easily

 

It occurs to her a few minutes later that the fact that they have to 'work' is little more than an excuse to hold off her questioning.

As the meal progresses it becomes clear that there's little official 'work' that they can do other than rate their own experience of the service, and maybe inspect the cleanliness of the bathrooms since their supposed to be incognito.

Instead they spend the time catching up like old friends even though they see each other nearly every day, there's still so much she misses when Tsuna has to out his time to so many people.

 

He makes her laugh with stories of some weirdos he had to entertain in some meeting, or whatever antics the others have been up to when she's not there.

He makes her feel needed when he asks her opinion about some problem he's been having with a Famiglia in another part of the country.

He makes her feel validated when he listens to and even agrees to some of her opinions about some of her own problems she's facing with the idiots who look down on her at the office for her age, lack of mafia heritage, and her own uniqueness in the way she speaks.

 

They laugh, they sigh, they enjoy good food; somehow neither Hayato nor Kyoko manage to come up in their conversation.

 

* * *

 

"Argh, what do I do Haru?" Tsuna says groaning stretching his arm over his eyes, she thinks that no matter how old they get Tsuna will always be the dramatic little boy she knew in middle school.

They're once again hanging out, Tsuna seems to have elevated her to some kind of confidant that he can trust with things he doesn't want to tell their mainly male group of friends.

"Suck it up and tell Kyoko to back off" she says flipping through a magazine about theatre; even if she's stopped making her own costumes she hasn't lost the love of it, in fact she's been thinking of suggesting they expand Seashell CO's entertainment section for just this reason.

"I can't say that it will hurt her feelings" Tsuna groans laying his head into her lap, though there's plenty of room on the bench their both sitting on, Haru pretends not to be annoyed

"Why don't you explain why you don't want to move in with her then?" she breathes out and lets the annoyance somewhat fade

"We've been dating for five years, since high school, what possible reason can I have that's good enough not to want to expand on that relationship?" Tsuna asks sarcastically

 

"Haru doesn't know, what possible reason  _could_  Tsuna have to be afraid of moving in with his girlfriend?" she asks back just as sarcastically, but with a slightly colder edge.

Tsuna hears it because he turns his head up to face her with a raised eyebrow

"Do I detect annoyance in your voice Haru?" he asks her in a slow drawl

"Tsuna is crying about how he has commitment issues with her best friend, and that he can't think of a good reason why he doesn't want to be around her."

"If I recall" Tsuna answers back slowly, a touch of cool entering his own voice as he sat up from her lap, "I believe we had a similar discussion not two months ago about  _my_  best friend."

Haru cringes at that

"In fact" Tsuna continues with a bit of edge, "it was Hayato wanting you to move in with him that started Kyoko's own little fever."

"That's not Haru's fault, and  _Tsuna_  was the one who convinced Haru do agree to it!" she snaps back, not sure why she was so irritated by him throwing that in her face

"Yeah well now I need some convincing!" Tsuna said scowling back at her, "But you're acting like I'm some kind of scum for asking, we all have doubts Haru!"

_Doesn't she know it_

 

"Well Haru doesn't want to hear them about her friend!"

It was at this time that Hayato would have escalated the argument; sometimes storm and lightning can be a little _too_ compatible, feeding off of each other. When emotions were good, it's incredibly passionate and Haru never even thinks about…

When emotions are bad, it's like the worst of storms, tearing apart everything, there are no lines that don't get crossed, and it can take days for reconciliation.

Tsuna is a Sky, it's not in his nature, he just accepts whatever she throws at him

 

After a long moment of giving her a hard stare, orange eyes tearing through her defenses painfully easily, he asks her in a steady tone, "What's  _really_  wrong" and just like that the fight is gone and Haru feels herself opening up to Tsuna like she always does.

"Haru found Hayato going through some magazines" she responds despondently

"Well", Tsuna blinks clearly surprised, "Have you… tried looking through them together… I mean Kyoko doesn't, but some couples are into that sort of thin-"

"Not _those_ kinds of magazines Tsuna!" she shouts embarrassed, "Wedding catalogs!"

 

His response isn't quite what she suspects, rather than jumping for joy like she expects, or giving her the 'tell big brother Tsuna you can talk to me' look like she fears, he goes still. Like frozen solid still, and it reminds her of a year ago when her relationship with Hayato came out, and he didn't immediately give his blessing.

"Tsuna?" she asks a little worried by just how still he's being, is he even blinking?

"What have you told him?" he suddenly asks in a voice that says he's trying to sound patient, but she can't help but feel it sounds a little demanding

"Nothing he hasn't asked Haru anything" she says back a touch defensively

"What are you going to say then?" he asks in a slow tone

"Haru doesn't know"

"You don't know!?" he screeches

"No Haru doesn't know!" she snaps back weirded out by his attitude, "He might not even ask Haru, it was just a magazine!"

"But if he does-"

"Why is Tsuna yelling at Haru, why does Tsuna even care!?" Haru interrupts him, and she has the oddest nagging feeling of Deja vu

"How could I not!?" Tsuna yells back, and Haru can't help but think this is almost exactly like

 

" _WHEN HAVE YOU EVER CARED ABOUT HARU, HER FEELINGS, HER WELL BEING, HER-"_

" _I'VE ALWAYS CARED ABOUT YOU!"_

 

No, she shakes her head of the crazy thought, that's not right he has Kyoko

"You two are my closest friends!" he continued unaware of her brief internal strife

"It's just a magazine Mr. 'He-can't-tell-his-girlfriend-of-half-a-decade-he-doesn't-want-to-be-around-her-more-than-he-has-to-be'" she growls lowly and (doesn't) enjoy the way he flinches back with satisfaction

"Haru has to go" she lies after Tsuna remains silent

 

She pretends she can't feel his eyes burning into her back

 

* * *

 

"Hibari-sensei" she asks as she cools off on the mat after yet another beating masqueraded as training; she takes the grunt she receives in return as an invitation to continue, "Why do you and Tsuna always look beat up at the same time?"

She doesn't look up from where her head is buried into her knees, after pushing herself to beyond exhaustion after her tiff with Tsuna in this training session

She had been greeted at the door by a bruised grinning Hibari, she thinks she may already know the answer.

"Carnivores need to keep their fangs sharp" he answers in another of his hard to understand metaphors; but she's heard enough of them in the last four and a half years of being his student to figure it out.

 

They're always bruised at the same time, because they fight _each other_ , but Tsuna never goes that far on anyone not an enemy. Which means that Tsuna has to be beyond angry when they fight, and Hibari is the only one that can take that anger.

 

She used to pretend not to notice that this happens mostly after Tsuna and Haru have a fight of their own.

She's not sure she can pretend not to notice that they only ever fight about their relationships anymore

 

"Hibari-sensei… why do you always smile like you're excited for a fight whenever Haru mentions her relationships?"

"Because cubs are just baby cats" he answers

 

 

" _All cats are fickle" he says with a devilish grin that Haru is sure caused the death of a thousand puppies somewhere in the world, "I just want to see a baby cats reaction"_

" _Idiot, still a cub baby carnivore"_

" _Four" Hibari corrected with that same odd sadistic smile on his face when he first convinced her to go after Hayato._

_She felt and saw the shivers go around the room at the smile; she's the only one who wasn't freaked out enough to notice the rather annoyed look on Tsuna's face. The younger man sent a scathing glare at her teacher that actually scared her as much as Hibari's smile_

 

 

She turns and looks at her teacher with wide eyes as dots slowly connected

"Hibari-sensei, did you-"

"Carnivore cub" he interrupts, but the infliction of his voice is

"Kyoya" a voice greets from the entrance of the room, and Haru nearly jumps at the suddenness of it.

Hibari looks between the two of them for a second as a silence permeates the air and neither one of them even acknowledges each other, then without care just turns and walks out of the room.

 

' _Thanks a lot Hibari-sensei'_

 

There's a long silence and Tsuna shuffles on his feet in a way she hasn't seen in years

"Sooo, I guess I should tell you that I told Kyoko I don't want to move in together…or really be together." Tsuna said awkwardly, Haru doesn't answer, "I guess you were right about me being afraid of commitment."

Haru still doesn't say anything, she can't, she doesn't even know what she can pretend to be feeling

"I guess I should also stop beating around the bush and apologize for jumping down your throat about some dumb magazine" he continues taking a hesitant step forward, before taking it back when her eyes track the movement, "I don't know, I guess my… _instincts_ , were screaming at me and I confused it with intuition, though if you're questioning Kyoya it's pretty obvious it wasn't intuition talking but… but my"

 

"Hayato asked me to marry him an hour ago" she interrupts

"…ah" Tsuna spoke and there's a tiny sway to his legs before he stumbles a bit forward and slides down to sit next to her, "I guess you guys really do keep these things close to the vest, I really didn't know"

"…"

"…"

"…um, you don't have to answer, but considering I'll kind of find out anyway, um, how did you… uh"

"Haru said she needs to think about it", she sat her head back on her knees remembering what drove her to asking for an extra training session.

Haru was Lightning, she was hard, she could take a lot, she didn't think she would be able to pretend the look on Hayato's face when she said that wouldn't haunt her for a long time.

 

"…oh…"

"Oh"

"…"

"…"

"…I suppose this is a bad time to tell you I'm desperately in love with you, painfully jealous of your relationship with my best friend, just broke up with yours out of jealousy, and am disgustingly kind of happy right now."

"It's a terrible time Tsuna"

"Yeah"

 

Her eyes are burning

"Haru kind of hates Tsuna"

"Yeah, Tsuna kind of hates Tsuna right now too" he sighs running a frustrated hand through his hair

"Haru gave up too much, for him to decide that he wants her now!" she cries

"…I know" he whispers

"She trained until she was sick, she gave up her old dreams, she put her life in danger" she sobs

"I'm sorry" he says tentatively placing a hand on her shoulder, when she doesn't pull away he pulls her into a hug.

 

"She broke her own heart over and over and now she's breaking other peoples because Tsuna couldn't pretend for just one more day, because Tsuna felt jealous!" she sobs hysterically

"I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry Haru" he whispers kissing her forehead as he wraps her up tighter in his arms

"Tsuna is an indecisive, petty, selfish boy and Haru doesn't know what she ever saw in him"

 

"I know" he whispers rocking her back and forth, "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I'm like this, I'm sorry I was such a little brat back then... I'm sorry that I can't seem to mature in the only ways that matter, I'm sorry I hurt you so much Haru"

After a moment of silence gathering his thoughts,he pulls her tighter and continues in a shaky vulnerable tone,

"And… and I'm so sorry that... I don't even have the decency to feel sorry about my feelings, because…" one more deep breath before he takes the plunge, " _I **love** you_ Haru Miura. Your weird accent, your strange love of clothes, your stubbornness; the the way you take on so much, the way you always stay by my side no matter what I pretend not to see, and... I'm sorry I can't be a more worthy man, I'm so sorry that I give you my feelings anyway, I'm sorry, but I love Haru, I do."

 

Haru for her part said nothing, just sitting in the one place she always wanted to be, in Tsuna's arms while he whispered sweet nothings to her, at the one time she never wanted it.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…Haru supposes this a bad time" she says in a croaky voice and can tell she has his full attention, "to tell Tsuna she's never stopped loving him, that's she's waited for him for four years using his best friend as a replacement and a way to stay closer to him, and that she is disgustingly kind of happy right now."

"…Yeah" he says, but she can hear the smile in his voice, "It's a terrible time Haru"

"Haru knows, but…"

"Yeah, _but_ …"

When she looks up to his face she only has just a moment to see pained yet unbelievably happy burning orange eyes, before she is distracted by the warm moist feeling consuming her lips that send volts of electricity up her skull, down her spine, and down to her curling toes.

 

It's a terrible time but…

 

The kiss breaks and Tsuna blinks at her with warm dazed eyes

"Wow" he says, and she smiles

 

Haru really can't bring herself to pretend to care

 

**_Haru Path_ : Complete**

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly writing Haru is hard and I think it shows, but next to Chrome she's my favorite


End file.
